Papakating Creek is a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the

Wallkill River The Wallkill River, a tributary of the Hudson River, Hudson, drains Lake Mohawk (New Jersey), Lake Mohawk in Sparta, New Jersey, Sparta, New Jersey, flowing from there generally northeasterly U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset ...

located in Frankford and

Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Berkshire, it has been a ...

townships in Sussex County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

in the United States. The creek rises in a small swamp located beneath the eastern face of

Kittatinny Mountain Kittatinny Mountain (Unami language, Lenape: Kitahtëne) is a long ridge traversing primarily Sussex County, New Jersey, Sussex County in northwestern New Jersey, running in a northeast-southwest axis, a continuation across the Delaware Water G ...

in Frankford and its waters join the Wallkill to the east of Sussex borough. Papakating Creek and its three major tributaries drain the northern portion of New Jersey's Kittatinny Valley a fertile valley underlain by shale and limestone of the

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

Martinsburg Formation and soils deposited by retreating

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s in the last ice age. The region which the Papakating Creek and its tributaries drain is largely rural farmland and forests with a few low-density residential communities. The

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is a government agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is responsible for managing the state's natural resources and addressing issues related to pollution. NJDEP now has a staf ...

reports that

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...

and

fecal coliform A fecal coliform (British: faecal coliform) is a facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, gram-negative, non- sporulating bacterium. Coliform bacteria generally originate in the intestines of warm-blooded animals. Fecal coliforms are capable of growth ...

from agricultural or residential runoff as well as

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

from agricultural pesticide applications or regional mineralogy impair the creek. Within the watershed are lands belonging to two state parks, one federal wildlife refuge, and preserves managed by the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust which set aside tracts for wildlife habitats that protect unique ecosystems and some threatened species.

History and toponymy

Papakating Post Office Frankford Township NJ in M R Knight General Merchandise

On June 29, 1897, the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

s Board of Geographic Names approved the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

''Papakating'' for a creek in northwestern New Jersey.United States Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System
Decision Card for Papakating
(June 29, 1897). Retrieved July 25, 2015. ''Papakating'' is derived from the language spoken by the

Munsee The Munsee () are a subtribe and one of the three divisions of the Lenape. Historically, they lived along the upper portion of the Delaware River, the Minisink, and the adjacent country in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. They were prom ...

(the northern branch of the

Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...

Delaware Indians The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historical territory included present-day northeastern Del ...

) who inhabited northern New Jersey, northeastern Pennsylvania, and southern New York and western Long Island at the time of European settlement of eastern seaboard of the United States. The name ''Papakating'', and several variant spellings, had been recorded for the creek consistently since the American colonial period. Maps and documents at the time of the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

often render the name as ''Pepocottin'' or ''Pepper-Cotton''. The name was used for both the creek and its valley, and subsequently during the nineteenth century for a small hamlet that later gave its name to a post office and train depot. The post office was authorized as "Pepokating" on August 26, 1851 and the name revised to the more common spelling of Papakating in 1862. Service to this post office was discontinued in 1923. Today, the site of a confluence between an unnamed tributary and the Papakating Creek is known as ''Pellettown'' and the Board of Geographic Names lists ''Pellet Creek'' and ''Pellettown Creek'' as historical names that have been used for the creek in the past. These alternate names for the creek, which were used briefly in the nineteenth century, are associated with William Pellet, Jr. (1771–1806) and Obadiah Pellet (1775–1849), who settled along the Papakating after purchasing 600 acres of farmland in Frankford Township in 1801. Obadiah eventually acquired "twelve valuable farms comprising twenty-five hundred acres of land". Pellet established house, grist mill, blacksmith shop and store by 1812, and "the site of these activities was known as Pepocotting (became Papakating), after the stream on which they had located, but gradually adopted the name Pellettown". His son Stephen J. Pellet (1820–1886), a local farmer, merchant, and Justice of the Peace who was appointed the first postmaster of the Papakating post office operating in his store. Today, the Papakating Creek and its watershed is rural in character; consisting of farmland, forests, and wetlands. There are a few low-density communities.New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection,
State Development & Redevelopment Plan. Plan Endorsement Opportunities & Constraints: Analysis for Township of Frankford, Sussex County
' (2009), 14, 16. Retrieved June 26, 2015.New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Watershed Management
Amendment to the Sussex County Water Quality Management Plan: Total Maximum Daily Load to Address Phosphorus in the Clove Acres Lake and Papakating Creek Northwest Water Region
(also foun
here
(2004). Retrieved June 26, 2015. Several of the tributaries of the Papakating Creek have been

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

med to create

man-made lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

s that were the centre of

residential development A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family resident ...

s. in 1926, a dam was erected on Clove Creek in Sussex Borough to create Clove Acres Lake at the site of a former horse racing track and picnic spot. The lake was developed into a lakeside community in that straddles the border between Sussex and Wantage Township. In the 1950s, Lake Neepaulin in Wantage Township was created by damming an unnamed mountain stream. In 2002, local residents of the Lake Neepaulin community decided to name the unnamed tributary ''

Neepaulakating Creek Neepaulakating Creek is a 2.4-mile long (3.8 km) tributary of Papakating Creek in Wantage Township in Sussex County, New Jersey in the United States.United States Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information SystemFeature Detail Repor ...

'' from a combination of elements of the names ''Neepaulin'' and ''Papakating''. Despite its seemingly Native American appearance, ''Neepaulin'' is not derived from Munsee or any other Native American language. Lake Neepaulin was named after a combination of the original developers children's names.Friends of Lake Neepaulin, Nathaniel Sajdak, Jennifer E. Runyon (USGS), United States Board of Geographic Names
Case Brief: Neepaulakating Creek
(2002). Retrieved June 26, 2015. The Board of Geographic Names approved the name on April 8, 2004.

Course

Winding Brook Farm Papakating Creek drone photo

The

headwaters The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...

of Papakating Creek are located at above sea level in Frankford Township,

. The stream begins in a small swamp at the foot of

, immediately beneath a prominence along that ridge known as Sunrise Mountain, elevation .United States Geological Survey,
Branchville, NJ Quadrangle USGS 1:24K Topographic Map 41074B6
'. Retrieved July 31, 2015. This source is located in the northernmost corner of Frankford Township, approximately west of the hamlet of Beemerville in Wantage Township.Rollin D. Salisbury,
The Glacial Geology of New Jersey: Volume V of the Final Report of the State Geologist
' (Trenton, NJ: MacCrellish & Quigley, 1902), 375ff. Retrieved October 17, 2015. From the source, the Papakating flows southeast through Frankford Township north of the borough of Branchville. In this region, the Papakating is separated from the watershed of the southward-flowing Dry Brook, a tributary of the

Paulins Kill The Paulins Kill (also known as Paulinskill River) is a tributary of the Delaware River in northwestern New Jersey in the United States. With a long-term median flow rate of 76 cubic feet of water per second (2.15 m3/s), it is New Jers ...

, by approximately 500 feet. The two watersheds are divided by a small rise in elevation of 20–30 feet between the drainages the two streams. Immediately to the north of Frankford Plains, a high flat-topped deposit of sand and gravel, the Papakating turns southeast. It generally weaves along the path of George Hill Road in Frankford where it reaches the bottom of Kittatinny Valley and turns to the northeast. Flowing northeast, the Papakating passes through a series of named crossroads or small hamlets, including Armstrong and Pellettown in Frankford. The stream

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...

s through several miles of farmland along the floor of Kittatinny Valley. At Pellettown, formerly known as Papakating, the creek is joined by an unnamed tributary and passes under the path of County Route 565. Route 565 is a north–south

county highway A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the County (United States), county highway departm ...

connecting Sussex borough and

New Jersey Route 23 Route 23 is a List of state highways in New Jersey, state highway in the northern part of New Jersey, United States. The route runs from Bloomfield Avenue (County Route 506 (New Jersey), County Route 506, CR 506) and Prospect Avenue ( ...

with Ross's Corner (its terminus) where it meets

New Jersey Route 15 Route 15 is a List of state highways in New Jersey, state highway in New Jersey, spanning Morris County, New Jersey, Morris and Sussex County, New Jersey, Sussex counties, which travels for from West MacFarland Street (U.S. Route 46) in Dove ...

and U.S. Route 206. From Pelletown, the road runs roughly parallel to the west of the creek's course. A railbed constructed in the 1870s and 1880s by the Pennsylvania, Poughkeepsie & Boston Railroad (PP&B) for a line connecting Slatington, Pennsylvania to

Pine Island, New York Pine Island is a hamlet in the town of Warwick in Orange County, New York, United States. It is the largest community in the Black Dirt Region, which is famous for its "black dirt onions." It gets its name from its slight elevation over the sur ...

parallels the creek's east bank through Frankford and Wantage.Randolph L. Kulp, ''History of Lehigh and New England Railroad Company''. (Lehigh Valley Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, Inc., 1989).George H. Drury, ''The Historical Guide to North American Railroads: Histories, Figures, and Features of more than 160 Railroads Abandoned or Merged since 1930'' (Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing, 1994), 171–172. This line was later operated by the

Lehigh and New England Railroad The Lehigh and New England Railroad was a Class I railroad located in Northeastern United States that acted as a bridge line. It was the second notable U.S. railroad to file for abandonment in its entirety after the New York, Ontario and Weste ...

until 1961. At McCoy's Corner in Wantage, an intersection south of Sussex borough, the waters of the Papakating Creek merge with its tributary

West Branch Papakating Creek West Branch Papakating Creek is a tributary of Papakating Creek located in Frankford and Wantage townships in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It covers a drainage area of . The creek continues to flow northeast on the east side of Sussex Airport. To the immediate north of Sussex Airport, at the hamlet of Lewisburg in Wantage, the waters of both

and

Clove Brook Clove Brook is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed October 3, 2011 tributary of Papakating Creek in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey New Jersey i ...

join the creek. The Papakating begins to turn eastward and is crossed by bridge carrying

. The creek enters a dense marsh terrain, historically known as the "Drowned Lands of the Wallkill", before flowing into the

east of Sussex borough and north of Hamburg borough.United States Geological Survey,
Hamburg, NJ Quadrangle USGS 1:24K Topographic Map 41074B5
'. Retrieved July 31, 2015.

Watershed

Geology and topography

Kittatinny valley seen from sunrise mountain aka kittatinny mountain nj

Papakting Creek drains a

watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...

of or in area. It includes portions of Frankford, Lafayette, Montague, and Wantage Townships, as well as all of Sussex Borough.Wallkill River Watershed Management Group
Papakating Creek & Clove Acres Lake/Clove Brook Watershed Restoration Plan
Retrieved July 26, 2015. According to the

(NJDEP), the watershed consists of gently sloping agricultural farm fields, wooded forests, wetlands, low-density residential development and older individually built homes. Its

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

ranges from gently rolling in the east to strongly sloping in the west. Its watershed contributes to the Wallkill River which flows north and joins the waters of

Rondout Creek Rondout Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 tributary of the Hudson River in Ulster and Sullivan counties, New York, United States. It rises on Roc ...

Esopus, New York Esopus ( ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Ulster County, New York, Ulster County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 9,548 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town was named afte ...

, a short distance before the Rondout flows into the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

near

Kingston, New York Kingston is the only Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in, and the county seat of, Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grou ...

. Of the Papakating's watershed's acreage, or 27.7% of agricultural land, or 0.8% is barren land, or 42.4% is forested, or 12.4% is urban development, or 15.4% is wetlands, and or 1.3% is water.Ernest Hofer, Nathaniel Sajdak, Wallkill River Watershed Management Group
Papakating Creek Watershed Restoration Plan: NJDEP Project RP05-088
(2008). Retrieved July 26, 2015. According to 2002 figures, the watershed was estimated to be home to approximately 11,602 residents of Sussex County. The Papakating Creek watershed is flanked on the west by

and on the east by the watershed of the Wallkill. To the east of the Wallkill River are the mountains of New Jersey's Highlands physiographic province. Kittatinny Valley is underlain by dark shale and limestone of the Martinsburg Formation and has soils that are glacial in origin.Avery Ala Drake Jr., Richard A. Volkert, Donald H. Monteverde, Gregory C. Herman, Hugh F. Houghton, Ronald A. Parker, and Richard F. Dalton
I2540a: Bedrock geologic map of northern New Jersey, IMAP
(Washington DC: United States Geological Survey, 1997). Retrieved October 17, 2015.Byron D. Stone, Scott D. Stanford, and Ron W. Witte,
U.S. Geological Survey Open File Map OF 95-543B: Surficial Geologic Map of the Northern Sheet, New Jersey
' (United States Geological Survey, New Jersey Geological Survey, 1995), 12. Retrieved October 17, 2015. The Martinsburg Formation is a two-mile-thick (3.2 km) layer of a thick

turbidite A turbidite is the geologic Deposition (geology), deposit of a turbidity current, which is a type of amalgamation of fluidal and sediment gravity flow responsible for distributing vast amounts of clastic sediment into the deep ocean. Sequencing ...

sequence of weaker sedimentary materials, mostly slate,

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...

sandstone, shale, and limestone derived from Ordovician-period deep ocean floor deposits (540 to 400 million years ago).Ron W. Witte and Don H. Monteverde
New Jersey Geological and Water Survey Information Circular: Geologic History of New Jersey's Valley and Ridge Physiographic Province
(2012). Retrieved June 30, 2015.Avery Ala Drake Jr. and Jack B. Epstein,
USGS Bulletin 1244-H: The Martinsburg Formation (Middle and Upper Ordovician) in the Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania-New Jersey
' (USGS Numbered Series. (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967. 16 pages. Retrieved October 17, 2015. The creek's watershed is located in the northern Kittatinny Valley in New Jersey which is a segment of the

Great Appalachian Valley The Great Appalachian Valley, also called The Great Valley or Great Valley Region, is one of the major landform features of eastern North America. It is a gigantic trough, including a chain of valley lowlands, and the central feature of the Appal ...

, a 1,200-miles (1,900 km) trough spanning from Quebec to Alabama. Elevations within the Kittatinny Valley range from to .U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service,
Soil Survey of Sussex County, New Jersey
' (Washington, DC: 2009). Retrieved October 17, 2015. In New Jersey, the northern portion of Kittatinny Valley is drained by the watershed of the Wallkill River of which Papakating Creek is a tributary. Its southern portion is drained by

and

Pequest River The Pequest River is a tributary of the Delaware River in the Skylands Region in northwestern New Jersey in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garden State Canoeing'', Seneca Press, 2002. The Pequest, Native Americans in the United States, N ...

. The watersheds of northern and southern Kittatinny Valley are divided by a

glacial moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice s ...

. The Papakating valley's topography and surficial geology is defined by stratified and unstratified drift as well as

till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

and gravel deposits left behind by the retreating

s during the

Wisconsin glaciation The Wisconsin glaciation, also called the Wisconsin glacial episode, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex, peaking more than 20,000 years ago. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated ...

(the last ice age) and feature several

kame A kame, or ''knob'', is a glacial landform, an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel and till that accumulates in a depression on a retreating glacier, and is then deposited on the land surface with further melting of the g ...

s and kame terraces. A unique feature in the watershed is Rutan Hill, also called Volcanic Hill, thought to be the throat of an ancient, extinct

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

which was active at the end of the

Taconic Orogeny The Taconic orogeny was a mountain building period that ended 440 million years ago (Ma) and affected most of modern-day New England. A great mountain chain formed from eastern Canada down through what is now the Piedmont of the east coast of the ...

approximately 420 million years ago. This nondescript hill in the Beemerville section of Wantage Township, is the surface expression of a lamprophyric

diatreme A diatreme, sometimes known as a maar-diatreme volcano, is a volcanic pipe associated with a gaseous explosion. When magma rises up through a crack in Earth's crust and makes contact with a shallow body of groundwater, rapid expansion of heated ...

that is the northern part of the Late Ordovician Beemerville Alkaline Complex that also includes two large

nepheline syenite Nepheline syenite is a holocrystalline Intrusion, plutonic rock that consists largely of nepheline and alkali feldspar. The rocks are mostly pale colored, grey or pink, and in general appearance they are not unlike granites, but dark green varie ...

pluton In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

s; and several other nearby and much smaller

dikes Dyke or dike may refer to: General uses * Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian" * Dike (geology), formations of magma or sediment that cut through and across the layering of adjacent rocks * Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess ...

, sills, and diatremes.

Hydrology and pollution

In 2004, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection designated a segment of Papakating Creek in the vicinity of Sussex Borough and Clove Creek (including Clove Acres Lake) to be impaired by

loading. NJDEP estimates a phosphorus concentration of 0.0791 mg/L and a discharge of of phosphorus each year. The source of most of its presence is derived from the runoff of

fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...

applications on residential lawns and agricultural operations. NJDEP identifies that "runoff from land surfaces was found to comprise a substantial portion of the phosphorus load", citing that large communities of geese that reside within the lake communities along Neepaulakating Creek and the nearby Clove Brook also contribute phosphorus to the creek. Clove Acres Lake is identified as being

eutrophic Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of organisms that may deplete the oxygen in the water; ie. the process of too many plants growing on the s ...

in that phosphorus loading has stimulated excessive growth of algae and aquatic plants resulting in an accelerating aging of the lake, sedimentation and excessive loading of silt and organic matter, fluctuating oxygen saturation and depletion, and that these factors can impact the creek through a potential

loss of biodiversity Biodiversity loss happens when plant or animal species disappear completely from Earth (extinction) or when there is a decrease or disappearance of species in a specific area. Biodiversity loss means that there is a reduction in biological dive ...

. The creek is further impaired to a lesser extent by other pollutants including

and

. The presence of fecal coliform (chiefly ''

Enterococcus ''Enterococcus'' is a large genus of lactic acid bacteria of the phylum Bacillota. Enterococci are Gram-positive cocci that often occur in pairs ( diplococci) or short chains, and are difficult to distinguish from streptococci on physical ch ...

'' and ''

Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Escherichia'' that is commonly fo ...

'') can be attributed both to residential septic and sewage systems and to farm animals and wildlife. While no specific source of arsenic has been identified, NJDEP indicates that possible sources may include the leaching of arsenic into the water from naturally occurring mineralogy within the watershed or to the agricultural use of pesticides.

Tributaries

Climate

Because of its location in the higher elevations of northwestern New Jersey the Papakating Creek's watershed has a cooler

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

microthermal In climatology, the term microthermal is used to denote the continental climates of Eurasia and North America. Etymology The word ''microthermal'' is derived from two Greek words meaning "small" and "heat". This is misleading, however, since the ...

climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

Dfb) which indicates patterns of significant precipitation in all seasons and at least four months where the average temperature rises above .Charles Warren Thornthwaite, ''Atlas of Climatic Types in the United States 1900–1939: U.S. Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication 421''. (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1941); and Thornthwaite. "The Climates of North America: According to a New Classification" in ''Geographical Review'' (October 1931), 21(4):633–655. This differs from the rest of the state which is generally a humid

mesothermal In climatology, the term mesothermal is used to refer to certain forms of climate found typically in the Earth's temperate zones. It has a moderate span of temperature, with winters not cold enough to sustain snow cover. Summers are warm within o ...

climate, in which temperatures range between −3 °C (27 °F) and 18 °C (64 °F) during the year's coldest month. Sussex County is part of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 6. According to the

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commerc ...

Natural Resource Conservation Service

soil survey Soil survey, or soil mapping, is the process of classifying soil types and other soil properties in a given area and geo-encoding such information. Background Soil surveys apply the principles of soil science and draw heavily from geomorpholog ...

, the area receives

sunshine Sunlight is the portion of the electromagnetic radiation which is emitted by the Sun (i.e. solar radiation) and received by the Earth, in particular the visible light perceptible to the human eye as well as invisible infrared (typically per ...

approximately 62% of the time in summer and 48% in winter. Prevailing winds are typically from the southwest for most of year; but in late winter and early spring come from the northwest. The Kittatinny Valley to the north of Newton experiences a

snowbelt The Snowbelt, Snow Belt, Frostbelt, or Frost Belt is the region near the Great Lakes in North America where heavy snowfall in the form of lake-effect snow is particularly common. Snowbelts are typically found downwind of the lakes, principally off ...

phenomenon and has been categorized as a

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often slightly but sometimes substantially. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square m ...

region known as the " Sussex County Snow Belt." This region receives approximately forty to fifty inches of snow per year and generally more snowfall that the rest of Northern New Jersey and the Northern Climate Zone. This phenomenon is attributed to the

orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

of Kittatinny Mountain which impacts local weather patterns by increasing

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

and

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from in January to in July. Temperatures reach on 12.6 days and fall to on 6 nights annually. Snowfall averages per season, although this usually varies widely from year to year. Extremes in temperature range from on January 21, 1994 up to on July 10, 1936.

Wildlife and conservation

Several large tracts of land within the Papakating watershed are

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

s administered by state and federal governments. Segments of land along the eastern face Kittatinny Mountain are located within the boundaries of

High Point State Park High Point State Park is a state park straddling the border of Wantage Township and Montague Township in Sussex County, within the Skylands Region of northwestern New Jersey, United States, near the border with New York State and Pennsylvania. ...

and

Stokes State Forest Stokes State Forest is a state park located in Sandyston, Montague and Frankford in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. Stokes comprises of mountainous woods in the Kittatinny Mountains, extending from the southern boundary of High ...

. The mouth of Papakating Creek and several areas purchased by preservation or conservation groups along the river's course (known as the Papakating Creek Preserve) are administered by the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust in partnership with the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, ...

as part of the larger Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge. These areas allow for recreational activities including fishing, hunting, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and birdwatching. Further, Papakating Creek is stocked with several species of

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

( brook,

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

, and

rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

) in the Spring and early Summer by the

New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife is a government agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey overseen by the cabinet-level New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). The division is "dedicated to the protection, management an ...

for

recreational fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is occupational fishing activities done for profit; or subsistence fishing, ...

. The New Jersey Natural Lands Trust states that the Papakating Creek watershed offers a variety of habitats for plants and animals, including several that are designated threatened or endangered by the state and federal governments. These habitats include:

Meadows and pastures offer grassland habitat for songbirds and hunting opportunity for red-tailed hawks. The forest lands of ash, maple and hemlock provide cool, shaded conditions to the slow moving creek. Here, raccoon, mink and possum make bridges of the numerous fallen trees which cross the creek. ... Wood frog and salamander utilize fringes of some of the smaller wetlands. Painted turtles and bluegills swim within the deeper oxbows and pools along the Papakating Creek.New Jersey Natural Lands Trust
Papakating Creek Preserve
Retrieved July 26, 2015.

In 2010, the Trust for Public Land finalized the purchase of the Armstrong Bog which was described as a rare

Calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime (mineral), lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of Science, scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcare ...

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

site in order to aid the "recovery of the federal threatened and state endangered

bog turtle The bog turtle (''Glyptemys muhlenbergii'') is a critically endangered species of semiaquatic turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is endemic to the eastern United States. It was first scientifically described in 1801 after an 18th-century ...

" (''Glyptemys muhlenbergii''), and preserve "plant habitat for the rare Fraser's Saint John's wort" (''Triadenum fraseri'').Brian T. Murray
"Sussex County marshland Armstrong Bog preserved under $1.1M deal"
''The Star-Ledger'', January 5, 2010. Retrieved July 31, 2015. The bog is described as a

wet meadow A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are Solubility, saturated for part or all of the growing season which prevents the growth of trees and brush. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of ...

that features the pinkish-purple flowers of New York ironweed and Joe Pye weed in late summer and that "woodchucks have dug their dens on the gently sloping edge between the forest and the old corn field". A smaller parcel features streamside wetlands of arrowwood and

elderberry ''Sambucus'' is a genus of between 20 and 30 species of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly referred to as elder, with the flowers as elderflower, and the fruit as elderberry. Description Elders are most ...

which provides "habitat ideal for wood turtles and yellow-throated warblers".

Notes

References

External links

Wallkill River Watershed Management Group

U.S. Geological Survey: NJ stream gaging stations
{{authority control Rivers of New Jersey Rivers of Sussex County, New Jersey Tributaries of the Wallkill River *