2023 in review

December 14, 2023| Advocacy, Community, Education, Environment

By: Lake Hopatcong Foundation

December brings with it a buzz of activity as we immerse ourselves in the holiday season and prepare for the year ahead. We hope you find a quiet moment, in between the parties and the preparations, to reflect on all that has been accomplished for Lake Hopatcong in 2023.

The following list of accomplishments belongs to you, our donors and volunteers. You provided the resources and time it took to bring these environmental, educational, community, and advocacy initiatives to life, which made and continues to make a big impact on and around our lake. 

In just the last year, we counted 657 volunteers who donated an astounding 5,389 hours of their time, educating kids, planting native plants, maintaining trails, picking up litter, and so, so much more! And nearly every day since kicking off our campaign, we receive a donation from a generous supporter, inching us closer and closer to our goal of raising $2 for every piece of trash volunteers picked up at our lake-wide cleanup in November.  

We truly are lucky to have your support as we work together to protect and improve New Jersey’s largest lake, not just in our lifetime, but for our kids and our kids’ kids. If we can build on the successes of 2023, the future looks very bright indeed!

2023 Accomplishments

Environment

• Organized a massive Lake-Wide Community Cleanup in partnership with the Lake Hopatcong Commission, in conjunction with the 5-foot drawdown. More than 600 volunteers removed an incredible 28,000 pounds of debris, including 900 tires, from the exposed lakebed. 
• Championed a boat shrink wrap recycling program for marinas around Lake Hopatcong, which collected seven 30-yard dumpsters of boat shrink wrap, equivalent to a staggering 7 tons (14,000 pounds), which will be recycled instead of landfilled.
• Planted 400 native plants along the shoreline of Memorial Pond in Mt. Arlington to improve water quality by creating a protective buffer that will filter out pollutants and excess nutrients from stormwater runoff before they enter the pond and ultimately, Lake Hopatcong.
• Received a $229K Stormwater Assistance Grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for a green infrastructure project to address stormwater runoff from the Lakeside Field parking lot in Jefferson Township. The grant was awarded in partnership with the Lake Hopatcong Commission, Jefferson Township, and the Academy for Environmental Science at Jefferson Township High School.
• Worked with the Lake Hopatcong Commission and technical experts on the feasibility and planning of important future projects in aeration, improving the lake's internal phosphorous levels, and the removal of sediment in Landing Channel.
• Prevented the spread of aquatic invasive species by monitoring the lake’s shoreline and hand-pulling 78 invasive water chestnut plants (containing 96 rosettes) through our volunteer Water Scouts program.

Education

• Educated more than 1,600 students, a nearly 25% increase from 2022, on the importance of protecting our freshwater resources through our environmental field trip program.
• Welcomed hundreds aboard the Lake Hopatcong Floating Classroom for a series of summer public eco cruises where guests learn about the ecology and health of our lake and how to protect it through hands-on activities and experiments.
• Presented quarterly programs free for the public on a variety of topics, including a review of the 2022 Water Quality Report, eco-friendly landscape design, monarch butterflies, and a guide to trees.
• Informed the community with more than 100 articles added to our website and 40 newsletters emailed to subscribers including a three-part series providing homeowners with information on ways to improve water quality on our lake with the following actions: minimizing runoff, eliminating pollutants, and capturing and infiltrating runoff and pollutants before they enter the lake.
• Provided valuable internship opportunities to three college students, fostering their professional growth and contributing to their academic and career development.

Community

• Worked with the New Jersey State Police, Morris County Sheriff's Office, and the police departments of Hopatcong, Jefferson, Mount Arlington, and Roxbury resulting in a stronger police presence and better lake safety.
• Dove in and got creative with a student art contest to highlight the beauty and importance of New Jersey’s largest lake. There were 170 entries from students from Grades 1-12.
• Promoted recreation around the lake by maintaining more than 12 miles of the Lake Hopatcong Trail, hosting group hikes and paddles, and organizing the Lake Loop bike, run, paddle challenge. 
• Connected nearly 200 businesses, non-profit organizations, craft vendors, and community groups with more than 2,000 visitors at our annual Lake Hopatcong Block Party, a community day in celebration of New Jersey’s largest lake.
• Provided meeting space in our building for local groups and organizations such as the Lake Hopatcong Commission, Musconetcong Watershed Association, Canal Society of New Jersey, Lake Hopatcong Historical Museum, Kingsland Association, and others.

Advocacy

• Met regularly with federal, state, county, and municipal representatives to advocate for protection, support, and funding for Lake Hopatcong, its watershed, and public lakes throughout the state.
• Co-chaired the 16-member Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed Steering Committee, which is comprised of almost 200 local, regional, and national organizations helping advocate for a healthy Delaware River watershed, which includes Lake Hopatcong.
• Advocated for clean water initiatives to our local representatives, resulting in Rep. Mikie Sherrill advancing funding for phase one engineering work for sewers in Jefferson Township. This accomplishment brings the possibility of sewer implementation in Jefferson Township one step closer, representing a crucial advancement in a collaborative endeavor to improve the lake's environmental health.
• Led the Public Lakes Alliance of New Jersey, a group of representatives from New Jersey’s public lakes who meet regularly to discuss and support each other in environmental, safety and other lake-related challenges, as well as to have a larger unified voice to advocate for New Jersey's lakes.
• Hosted visits on the Floating Classroom of Congressman Tom Kean Jr., NJDEP Commissioner LaTourette, Assemblywoman Dunn, and the Morris County Commissioners to allow them to see current lake initiatives and better understand Lake Hopatcong's issues and needs.

We are able to accomplish all this and more with community support. We encourage you to share this article with someone who cares about Lake Hopatcong as much as you do and ask them to consider a gift that will help us reach our fundraising goal!

Give a Gift