India Brook Mendham:

[AndyS]

B.C. got a call from one of our members that was hiking along India Brook in Mendham Twp. earlier today. He came across what is clearly an illegal diversion in a C-1 wild trout stream. I took these photos and others and called in to WARN-DEP and got case # 1909-30-1227-17 and DEP Enforcement is alerted and looking into it.
Before B.C. left, a black pickup truck came down a dirt road on the other side where lots of fresh, new No Trespassing signs have been placed and he was shouting to me from across the river. I explained I was on the phone with the DEP because what I was seeing was multiple clear violations of NJ laws. Long story short, he knows he's screwed and while he denied even having any heavy equipment on site, I could hear an excavator working maybe 200 feet into the woods. Tree removal, illegal diversion ditch, fill in NJ Open Waters, working without proper DEP Land Use Regulation permits, without county soil conservation district permits, and doing all of this in a C-1 trout stream with spawning trout closures between September 15 and March 15. That's just for starters. The bridge abutments are historic as well.....

[AndyS]

The reason the new landowner drove down is that he has cameras installed and he could see me walking along the river, but B.C. remained only on the public (town) land. This is in India Brook Natural Area in Mendham Twp.

[NJSquatch]

Someone making moonshine?

[FASTEDDIE29]

Hmmmmmm that dude better leave my favorite little creek alone. Friggin’ people up there have money and think they can get away with everything.....

[thmyorke1]

So the coordinates,
40 47.47,-74 37.156

point to the stretch of india brook that's right in the park. Ive been to that spot myself just last winter. So do plenty of hikers. I remember some private property on the east side there. but no divergence I have no idea why they are diverting it. But I think the park used to be some operation (mining, logging, or water treatment?) in the past, and there were old divergents and structures that are still sort of left over. That's why you see the wall in the third picture, but that divergent is clearly new.
You can see in the third picture, it would normally flow to the right, towards the camera. But looks really bad and dried out. The divergent is in the background of the third picture, as it comes around the wall a bit.

Hope the brookies and browns are ok. Water was low enough already.
Who knows why the guy diverted it, and even thought it was a good idea to do it like that and get away with it.

[Drossi]

Hmmmmmm that dude better leave my favorite little creek alone. Friggin’ people up there have money and think they can get away with everything.....

Money breeds Entitlement, stupidity, and *******ry.

[Adrenalinerush]

So he did it because he had money? Really?

[MudCat08]

Hope they get him. People will do anything as long as nobody catches them.

[privateer]

Good work Andy, Wrong on so many levels...

[Chrisper4694]

i've also seen areas that guys claim are their private property but when you look it up on the tax property map you can clearly see it's not private area. most people are just pieces of crap. i'm at the point where i don't trust anyone or believe anything anyone says anymore.

[NJSquatch]

i'm at the point where i don't trust anyone or believe anything anyone says anymore.

https://i.postimg.cc/Rhz8WZrM/Trust-No-One.jpg

[EJS]

Great thread Andy, thanks for posting this!

[Sako1]

Thanks Andy, will be interesting following this one.

At the Broadhead river in the Poconos this year some guy posted land he didn't own.

Dave

[Esox Luciano]

This is pretty f-ed up! Think we have good enough reason for a NJF meet n greet, bring your shovels fellaz!!💪

[thmyorke1]

If anyone is curious on updates check out the GST thread.
http://gardenstatetrout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=309

[bigfishy]

Nice work coaltrout!!!

[Wilson]

From GST thread.


DEP Enforcement called me finally, and they are headed out there today. Mendham Twp. has cited this landowner with several violations, and those may or may not be involved in the pictures I put up here. Apparently he is also working on the house and the overall property, and likely without the proper permits (or any permits). The fill in the stream is a 401 violation under the Clean Water Act and can carry fines up to $50,000/day once they come down on him later today. It also turns out that he made a DEP complaint a month ago that his pond on the property he had just purchased "was too low" and he told DEP what he wanted to do. He was told much of what he wanted to do was not allowable, and he went over the head of the woman in Enforcement that he initially spoke with and had "a heated argument" with her supervisor later about the same issues. So he has ZERO chance of claiming he didn't know he was violating laws since he was clearly told he could not do what he eventually went ahead and did. The very same people in DEP Enforcement are now assigned to his case......

[Jigman13]

He's screwed... good. Serves him right for being an a-hole!

[RAMMFISH66]

Good move Andy..hope he really gets screwed!!!

[Hookmanski]

From GST thread.


DEP Enforcement called me finally, and they are headed out there today. Mendham Twp. has cited this landowner with several violations, and those may or may not be involved in the pictures I put up here. Apparently he is also working on the house and the overall property, and likely without the proper permits (or any permits). The fill in the stream is a 401 violation under the Clean Water Act and can carry fines up to $50,000/day once they come down on him later today. It also turns out that he made a DEP complaint a month ago that his pond on the property he had just purchased "was too low" and he told DEP what he wanted to do. He was told much of what he wanted to do was not allowable, and he went over the head of the woman in Enforcement that he initially spoke with and had "a heated argument" with her supervisor later about the same issues. So he has ZERO chance of claiming he didn't know he was violating laws since he was clearly told he could not do what he eventually went ahead and did. The very same people in DEP Enforcement are now assigned to his case......

Yeeeeeewwwww! Get em! Serves him right! Good on DEP Enforcement.

[NJSquatch]

man i really really hate people that think they are entitled. throw the book at him

[NJSquatch]

Map of the crime scene. Not sure about the accuracy of the GPS location as it can be negatively affected by dense tree cover. Logic would dictate that the pond on Block 116 Lot 49 is what was being filled.

http://njwebmap.state.nj.us/NJGeoWeb//UrlHandler.ashx?MAPTABID=1&MINX=456924.454805027&MINY=711415.520690293&MAXX=460601.586376758&MAXY=713793.982778357&SIZE=1260,815&LABEL=Diversion%7c459098.631805787%7c713151.943932 521%7c102711%7c%5bEMPTY%5d%7c0%7cCIRCLE%7c%5bEMPTY %5d%7c0%7c%7c&THEME=Sapphire&LANGUAGE=en-US&LAYERS_TO_SHOW=392997782,390490811,390490878,39049 0904,390502440,390490661&LAYERS_TO_HIDE=390490681,390490712,390490725,39299 7738,390490782,390490860,390499178,390499213,39049 9279,390499299,390499338,390499395,390499450,39049 9485,390499500,390499536,390501253,446043242,39050 1313,390501347,390501501,390501530,390501565,39050 1598,390501607,390501642,390501683,390501709,39050 1733,390501845,390501895,390501922,390500622,39050 2085,390502107,390502129,390502152,390501100,39050 1109,390501126,390501143,390501176,417721677,41772 1687,417721697,417721707,417721717,390501197,39050 0633,390500643,418403209,390500724,390500741,39050 0755,390500769,390500777,390500785,390500805,39050 0824,458648863,390500851,390500864,390500229,39050 0242,390500262,390500275,390500295,390500349,39050 0365,390500405,390502399,390500915,390500927,39050 0947,390500967,390500987,390501007,390501027,39050 1047,390501059,390501068,390501081,390500489,39050 0500,390500512,390500563,390502464,390502475,39050 2486,390502499,390502519,390502545,400854169,39050 2597,390502617,390502641,390502652,390500421,39050 0435,390500468,390502175,390502262,390502275,39050 2287,390499546,390499565,390499586,390499611,39049 9951,390499958,390499979,390499990,390500030,39050 0044,390500058,390500072,390500096,390500105,39050 0125,390500156,390500166,390500176,390500190,39050 0204,390500216,390490657,390490653,390490649,39049 0645,390490641,390490637,390490633,390490629,39049 0625,406743795,390490617,390490613,390490665,39049 0677,390490673,390490669,390491116&USEEXISTINGSESSION=True

[akoop]

Anyone know whatever happened to this guy? I searched but wasn't able to find any updates.

[thmyorke1]

Anyone know whatever happened to this guy? I searched but wasn't able to find any updates.

He was processed into trout food for the hatchery.

jk, best to send a pm to rusty spinner, curious myself if you find out.

[NJSquatch]

Anyone know whatever happened to this guy? I searched but wasn't able to find any updates.

it was mentioned in the council meeting minutes

https://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/2019/minutes/fgc10-08-19.pdf

[Doug Vitale]

i've also seen areas that guys claim are their private property but when you look it up on the tax property map you can clearly see it's not private area. most people are just pieces of crap. i'm at the point where i don't trust anyone or believe anything anyone says anymore.

Unfortunately my experiences (and those of my father) have shown that the best way to get into an argument/fight is to go hunting or fishing in the state of NJ.

Being outdoors in nature I have met some of the best and some of the worst people.

[buzzbaiter]

A lot of landowners and especially clubs put up signs that are meant to deter you from entering "their" property when it is in fact not theirs. There is very good mapping apps out there and I will gladly show them when I'm fishing right past one of their signs.

[buzzbaiter]

new No Trespassing signs have been placed and he was shouting to me from across the river. .

I'd be shouting back because that's not a crime(not yet I think we still have free speech until the libs take that away) unlike what this fool did. Unfortunately this ahole will probably get heavily fined, blame the trout and "accidentally" have some sort of fuel leak killing a lot of them. I don't put it past anyone anymore to react like that. We live in a "message" world and to quote a line from the movie Heathers "the extreme always seems to make an impression"

[akoop]

Just an update to this. I was hiking on Sunday near India brook and came across this location. The ditch he dug is still there and is not filled in. Thee is a small pile of rocks where it meets India Brook keep water from entering it but one good storm and that will be breached. There is some straw thrown down on the sides of the ditch I guess to try to get vegetation to start growing.

Here is a photo.
https://i.imgur.com/0hGLnHeh.jpg

[FASTEDDIE29]

Thanks for the update man. The brook is in fine shape. Wonder what the criminal is up to these days and if he’s been to court for his actions yet.