Rahway river 9/8/18:

[AndyS]

Central Jersey Stream Team on the Rahway river in the town of Rahway. We cleaned about 200 yards of the river.

[thmyorke1]

geez! that's a lot of junk. Good work by CJST

Any intel on the fishing in that section? ;)

[AndyS]

No. BUT, this is the river that got the trout stocking extension, added miles.
Good work NJF&W.

[thmyorke1]

No. BUT, this is the river that got the trout stocking extension, added miles.
Good work NJF&W.

The section that was cleaned by CJST was within the new two extra miles.

Hopefully more people start fishing that stretch next year. I saw plenty of folk at Springfield section this year and I only assume the popularity spreads throughout the many access points.

[Billfish715]

Great job on the start of a job of many lifetimes! They say that all things flow downstream and in this case, Rahway is about as far downstream as you can go. The stretch cleaned (from looking at the pictures) seems to be the tidal stretch below where the trout are actually stocked.

Still, it was an outstanding effort by everyone. Cleaning the Rahway River will take lots of work by lots of people. You hardly put a dent in it, but it was a big dent. The amount of floating materials like cans, bottles, assorted plastics and discarded household items along the banks and especially upstream in the wetlands and swampy areas where the river overflows its banks and then recedes can take years to remove.

The river is susceptible to flooding from Springfield near Rt. 78 through Cranford and Clark and collects all sorts of things along the way. Every new flood collects the debris from the formerly flooded areas and moves it farther downstream while depositing more along the way not unlike any other river in the state.

Again, great job. Someone needs to publicize your efforts on more than just this site.

[shucker]

That is the tidal section , nice job on the cleanup, but the locals in that area don't care and will continue to dump in that section

[Billfish715]

Andy, What were some of the treasures you and the cleanup crew pulled out of the river? We all see the bicycle but what else was there. I think I saw a sink in one of the shots. Did the city of Rahway provide any of their services to help with the cleanup?

[Detour66]

Kudos to the CJST !! Great work!! Thank you!

[AndyS]

111 tires, 34 traffic cones, 16 bicycles, 18 shopping carts, 5 carpets, 2 skateboards, 2 commercial laundry bins, a suitcase, microwave, wine rack, lawnmower, 45 bags of trash, 30 bags of recycling, lots of other misc metal and trash.

The Rahway River had a very good day today! A crazy amount of debris was collected by an impressively large group of dedicated volunteers, including Rahway Mayor, Ray Giacobbe, and Councilperson Joanna Miles. The Central Jersey Stream Team was instrumental in pulling this off. There were many other groups involved including the Rahway Library, Rahway Environmental Commission, and various Scout groups from surrounding areas. Over 75 volunteers showed up and jumped in the river then dug, pried, scraped, dragged and pulled hundreds of heavy items off of the floor of the river and up the river bank. Really, I have never been as proud of a group of people, as I was today. A special shout out goes to Rahway Environmental Commission member Peggy Najjar, Rahway Library employee Tim Valente, Rahway Cub Scout Leader Gretchen Kellaway and Priya Patel for conducting a plastic audit. The Central Jersey Stream Team group out did themselves.

[Billfish715]

I sent the pictures and your blurb about the cleanup to the local Union County Patch editor. Maybe she'll do something with it.

[hammer4reel]

Andy I think NJ needs to hire you to do this full time.
The amount of stuff you and your group has removed from the NJ streams and rivers is unreal.
If only our state took as much pride in these clean ups as you do , it would def give many people more great spots to enjoy the outdoors