Help Beautify Mendham Brook As Restoration Project Wraps Up

MENDHAM, NJ — For months, efforts to rehabilitate Mendham’s India Brook have been underway, and as the project's final phase approaches, environmentalists are asking for residents’ help.

This Saturday, township environmental committees and conservation partners are asking for volunteers to help out with a planting event at India Brook Park.

The event will begin at 9:30 a.m. and no registration is required. Organizers ask that volunteers bring their own rakes and shovels.

This is one of the final phases of the India Brook restoration project, which was spearheaded by the Mendham Environmental, Open Space, Shade Tree Committee, alongside partner Hacklebarney Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

The plan to restore the brook began in July. The waterway, which runs to Mountain Valley Park Pond (aka Mud Hole), serves as a popular fishing spot for residents and visitors. Over the years, invasive plant species have made their way in and around the waterway, harming local wildlife and causing environmental disruptions.

According to the NJ DEP, invasive plants can outcompete native plants by:

• Changing habitat structure
• Altering soil chemistry
• Dominating available space
• Absorbing sunlight or by shading
• More efficiently utilizing nutrients

“Hacklebarney Trout Unlimited and the Borough of Mendham are partnering to remove the overgrown invasive plants along India Brook and restore the brook with native trees and shrubs,” a borough statement read. “These plants are well-suited to the area, and will enhance the local ecosystems, and offer essential food and habitat for the native wildlife.”

Over the summer, the borough was issued a general permit from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for “aquatic pesticide” usage. The permit highlights pesticide conditions and restrictions, and allows spraying until the end of this year.

Over the span of several weeks, organizers conducted a routine spraying of pesticides to rid the area of the invasive plants.