Event To Mark Completion Of Wild Duck Pond In Ridgewood

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — A $1.7 million ecological restoration project at the Wild Duck Pond in Ridgewood is nearing completion after an approximate single-year construction period, Bergen County spokesman Derek Sands said.

A ceremony will be held at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday to mark completion of the project that included replacing the degrading pond liner and implementing effective stormwater management, thus "restoring the pond's wetlands and further supporting native wildlife," Sands said.

Funding to restore the man-made lake at Saddle River County Park came from the Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund and a grant from New Jersey Green Acres.

A proposal was initially solicited from environmental consulting company Biohabitats in December 2017. A construction contract was awarded by the Board of Commissioners to Earthworks in April 2021, and construction began in July 2021, according to the county website.

Originally fed by the Saddle River, the Wild Duck Pond became disconnected when the flow regime was altered. Over time the pond began to experience "high nutrient loads, algal blooms and fluctuating water levels," and so, in an effort to "enhance the ecological function," Biohabitats developed a design to restore it, the company said on its website.