:Papakating Creek

File:Papakating Post Office Frankford Township NJ in M R Knight General Merchandise.jpg

On June 29, 1897, the United States Geological Survey{{'}}s Board of Geographic Names approved the toponym Papakating for a creek in northwestern New Jersey.United States Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System, [http://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/feat_card?p_file=2583 Decision Card for Papakating] (June 29, 1897). Retrieved July 25, 2015. Papakating is derived from the language spoken by the Munsee (the northern branch of the Lenape or Delaware Indians) 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 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".[https://books.google.com/books?id=LU5KAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA877&lpg=PA877 Biographical and Genealogical History of Morris and Sussex Counties, New Jersey, Illustrated, Volume II] (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1899), 877. 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, [http://www.nj.gov/dep/opsc/docs/oca_frankford.pdf 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, [http://www.epa.gov/waters/tmdldocs/Papakating%20TMDL%20-%20established.pdf 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] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630110449/http://www.epa.gov/waters/tmdldocs/Papakating%20TMDL%20-%20established.pdf |date=2015-06-30 }} (also found [http://www.state.nj.us/dep/wms/bear/Papakating%20TMDL.pdf here]) (2004). Retrieved June 26, 2015. Several of the tributaries of the Papakating Creek have been dammed to create man-made lakes that were the centre of residential developments. 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 {{convert|32.5|acre|ha|adj=on}} lake was developed into a lakeside community in that straddles the border between Sussex and Wantage Township.Greg Watry, "Rehabilitation of Clove Lake under way", The New Jersey Herald, April 6, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015. In the 1950s, Lake Neepaulin in Wantage Township was created by damming an unnamed mountain stream.Eric Oberhauer, "Wantage resident suing over costs of Lake Neepaulin dam", The New Jersey Herald, April 22, 2012. In 2002, local residents of the Lake Neepaulin community decided to name the unnamed tributary Neepaulakating Creek 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, [http://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/feat_folder?p_file=482223 Case Brief: Neepaulakating Creek] (2002). Retrieved June 26, 2015.[http://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/feat_folder?p_file=671113 E-mail corresponsdence Jim Rementer (Lenape Language Project) to Jennifer E. Runyon, USGS BGN] (March 24, 2004). Retrieved June 26, 2015. The Board of Geographic Names approved the name on April 8, 2004.[http://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/feat_folder?p_file=671115 Letter from Roger L. Payne (USGS) to James L. Doherty (Wantage Township Administrator Clerk)] (April 30, 2004). Retrieved June 26, 2015. Quote: "U.S. Board on Geographic Names, at its April 8, 2004, meeting, approved the proposal to name an unnamed stream in Sussex County, Neepaulakating Creek. This decision was made in agreement with the findings and recommendations of your office, the government of Sussex County, and the New Jersey Board on Geographic Names."

File:Winding Brook Farm Papakating Creek drone photo.jpg

The headwaters of Papakating Creek are located at {{convert|900|ft|m}} above sea level in Frankford Township, New Jersey. The stream begins in a small swamp at the foot of Kittatinny Mountain, immediately beneath a prominence along that ridge known as Sunrise Mountain, elevation {{convert|1,650|ft|m}}.United States Geological Survey, [https://www.topoquest.com/map-detail.php?usgs_cell_id=5255 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 {{convert|1|mi|km}} west of the hamlet of Beemerville in Wantage Township.Rollin D. Salisbury, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9T4-AQAAMAAJ 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, 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.{{efn|According to Google Maps, the turn to the east and following George Hill Road begins at Latitude 41.164692°N 74.725966°W and ends at 41.141899°N 74.697399°W.Google Maps, [https://www.google.com/maps/place/41%C2%B009'52.9%22N+74%C2%B043'33.5%22W/@41.164696,-74.7281547,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0 Map Location of 41.164692°N 74.725966°W] and [https://www.google.com/maps/place/41%C2%B008'30.8%22N+74%C2%B041'50.6%22W/@41.141903,-74.6995877,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0 Map Location for 41.141899°N 74.697399°W]. Retrieved October 17, 2015.}}

Flowing northeast, the Papakating passes through a series of named crossroads or small hamlets, including Armstrong and Pellettown in Frankford. The stream meanders 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 connecting Sussex borough and New Jersey Route 23 with Ross's Corner (its terminus) where it meets New Jersey Route 15 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 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 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. 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 Neepaulakating Creek and Clove Brook join the creek. The Papakating begins to turn eastward and is crossed by bridge carrying New Jersey Route 23. The creek enters a dense marsh terrain, historically known as the "Drowned Lands of the Wallkill", before flowing into the Wallkill River east of Sussex borough and north of Hamburg borough.United States Geological Survey, [https://www.topoquest.com/map-detail.php?usgs_cell_id=19050 Hamburg, NJ Quadrangle USGS 1:24K Topographic Map 41074B5]. Retrieved July 31, 2015.

File:Kittatinny valley seen from sunrise mountain aka kittatinny mountain nj.jpg

Papakting Creek drains a watershed of {{convert|60.6|sqmi|sqkm}} or {{convert|38,798|acre|ha}} in area. It includes portions of Frankford, Lafayette, Montague, and Wantage Townships, as well as all of Sussex Borough.Wallkill River Watershed Management Group, [http://www.wallkillriver.org/watershed-restoration/clove-brook Papakating Creek & Clove Acres Lake/Clove Brook Watershed Restoration Plan]. Retrieved July 26, 2015. According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), the watershed consists of gently sloping agricultural farm fields, wooded forests, wetlands, low-density residential development and older individually built homes. Its topography 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 at Esopus, New York, a short distance before the Rondout flows into the Hudson River near Kingston, New York.

Of the Papakating's watershed's acreage, {{convert|10,760|acre|ha}} or 27.7% of agricultural land, {{convert|297.6|acre|ha}} or 0.8% is barren land, {{convert|16,448.6|acre|ha}} or 42.4% is forested, {{convert|4,819|acre|ha}} or 12.4% is urban development, {{convert|5,982.2|acre|ha}} or 15.4% is wetlands, and {{convert|490.8|acre|ha}} or 1.3% is water.Ernest Hofer, Nathaniel Sajdak, Wallkill River Watershed Management Group, [http://www.wallkillriver.org/uploads/papakating_plan.pdf 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 Kittatinny Mountain 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, [https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/4f4e4a6be4b07f02db63d9c4 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, [http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1995/0543b/report.pdf 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 sequence of weaker sedimentary materials, mostly slate, greywacke 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, [http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/infocirc/valley-ridge.pdf 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, [https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/b1244H 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, a 1,200-miles (1,900 km) trough spanning from Quebec to Alabama. Elevations within the Kittatinny Valley range from {{convert|400|ft|m}} to {{convert|1000|ft|m}}.U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service, [https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/new_jersey/sussexNJ2009/Sussex_NJ.pdf 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 Paulins Kill and Pequest River. The watersheds of northern and southern Kittatinny Valley are divided by a glacial moraine. The Papakating valley's topography and surficial geology is defined by stratified and unstratified drift as well as till and gravel deposits left behind by the retreating glaciers during the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age) and feature several kames 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 which was active at the end of the Taconic Orogeny approximately 420 million years ago. This nondescript hill in the Beemerville section of Wantage Township, is the surface expression of a lamprophyric diatreme that is the northern part of the Late Ordovician Beemerville Alkaline Complex that also includes two large nepheline syenite plutons; and several other nearby and much smaller dikes, sills, and diatremes.M. Aurousseau and H.S. Washington, "The Nephelite Syenite and Nephelite Porphyry of Beemerville, New Jersey", The Journal of Geology 30(7) (1922), 571–586; S.L. Ghatge, D.L. Jagel, and G.C. Herman, [http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/pricelst/gmseries/gms92-2.pdf "Gravity investigations to delineate subsurface geology in the Beemerville intrusive complex area, Sussex County, New Jersey"], Geologic Map Series no. 92-2. (Trenton, NJ: New Jersey Geological Survey, Division of Science and Research, 1992); L.R. Maxey, "Petrology and geochemistry of the Beemerville carbonatite-alkalic rock complex, New Jersey", Geological Society of America Bulletin 87(11) (1976), 1551–1559; G. N. Eby, [http://www.kean.edu/~csmart/Petrology/Lectures/Eby%20Beemerville%20paper.pdf "Petrology, geochronology, mineralogy, and geochemistry of the Beemerville alkaline complex, northern New Jersey"], in J.H. Puffer and R.A. Volkert (editors), Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic, and Mesozoic Intrusive Rocks of Northern New Jersey and Southeastern New York: Twenty-First Annual Meeting Geological Association of New Jersey (Mahwah, NJ: Geological Association of New Jersey, 2004), 52–68; B. A. Kjarsgaard, [http://www.dmec.ca/ex07-dvd/E07/pdfs/46.pdf "Kimberlite Pipe Models: Significance for Exploration"], in B. Milkereit (editor), Proceedings of Exploration 07: Fifth Decennial International Conference on Mineral Exploration, Decennial Mineral Exploration Conferences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (2007), 667–677; N.M. Ratcliffe, "Cortlandt-Beemerville magmatic belt: A probable late Taconian alkalic cross trend in the central Appalachians", Geology 9(7) (1981), 329–335. Retrieved October 17, 2015.

File:Triadenum fraseri.jpg

In 2004, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection designated a {{convert|2.5|mi|km|adj=on}} segment of Papakating Creek in the vicinity of Sussex Borough and Clove Creek (including Clove Acres Lake) to be impaired by phosphorus loading. NJDEP estimates a phosphorus concentration of 0.0791 mg/L and a discharge of {{convert|9234.1|kg|lb}} of phosphorus each year. The source of most of its presence is derived from the runoff of fertilizer applications on residential lawns and agricultural operations.{{efn|The figure of 9,234.1 kg/year is derived from adding the reported data of 2444.6 kg/yr from Clove Acres Lake and 6789.5 kg/year from the Papakating watershed excluding Clove Acres Lake.}} 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 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.

The creek is further impaired to a lesser extent by other pollutants including fecal coliform and arsenic.U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, [https://web.archive.org/web/20210428170751/https://iaspub.epa.gov/waters10/attains_waterbody.control?p_au_id=NJ02020007020070-01&p_list_id=NJ02020007020070-01&p_cycle=2012 Watershed Assessment, Tracking & Environmental Results: 2012 Waterbody Report for Papakating Creek (below Pellettown)]. Retrieved July 31, 2015. The presence of fecal coliform (chiefly Enterococcus and Escherichia coli) 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.

Because of its location in the higher elevations of northwestern New Jersey the Papakating Creek's watershed has a cooler humid continental climate or microthermal climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) which indicates patterns of significant precipitation in all seasons and at least four months where the average temperature rises above {{convert|10|°C}}.The determination of Dfb (warm summer subtype) region is from Peel, M. C., Finlayson, B. L., and McMahon, T. A. (University of Melbourne). [http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/11/1633/2007/hess-11-1633-2007.pdf Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification] from Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (2007), 11:1633–1644, doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007. Retrieved October 17, 2015.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.[http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=771682&cityname=Newton%2C+New+Jersey%2C+United+States+of+America&units= Climate Summary for Newton, New Jersey], weatherbase.com (CantyMedia). Retrieved October 17, 2015. This differs from the rest of the state which is generally a humid mesothermal climate, in which temperatures range between −3 °C (27 °F) and 18 °C (64 °F) during the year's coldest month.F. K. Hare, "Climatic classification" in Stamp, L.D., and Wooldridge, S.W. (editors). The London Essays in Geography (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1951), 111–134. Sussex County is part of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 6.[http://www.arborday.org/treeinfo/ZoneInfo.cfm?ZipCode=07461&submit=Look+it+up%21 "What is my arborday.org Hardiness Zone?"], Arbor Day Foundation. Retrieved October 17, 2015.[http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/Downloads.aspx 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (USA)], United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service and Oregon State University. (2012). Retrieved October 17, 2015. According to the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service soil survey, the area receives sunshine 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 phenomenon and has been categorized as a microclimate 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.Office of the New Jersey State Climatologist, [http://climate.rutgers.edu/stateclim/?section=uscp&target=NJCoverview "The Climate of New Jersey"], Rutgers: New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station; citing David Ludlum, New Jersey Weather Book (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1983). Retrieved October 17, 2015. This phenomenon is attributed to the orographic lift of Kittatinny Mountain which impacts local weather patterns by increasing humidity and precipitation.Leo H. Carney, [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E6DA173BF933A05752C0A9639C8B63 "Weather; Microclimates, Big Variations."], The New York Times, January 30, 2005. Retrieved October 17, 2015. QUOTE: "In places like Hidden Valley and throughout the snow belt of northwestern Sussex County, a condition known as orographic lifting can increase humidity and precipitation."

The monthly daily average temperature ranges from {{convert|25.0|°F|1}} in January to {{convert|71.1|°F|1}} in July. Temperatures reach {{convert|90|°F|0}} on 12.6 days and fall to {{convert|0|°F|0}} on 6 nights annually. Snowfall averages {{convert|42|in|cm|0}} per season, although this usually varies widely from year to year. Extremes in temperature range from {{convert|−29|°F|0}} on January 21, 1994 up to {{convert|106|°F|0}} on July 10, 1936.

{{Weather box

|location = Sussex, New Jersey (1981–2010 normals)

|single line = Y

|Jan record high F = 71

|Feb record high F = 73

|Mar record high F = 90

|Apr record high F = 95

|May record high F = 97

|Jun record high F = 98

|Jul record high F = 106

|Aug record high F = 102

|Sep record high F = 102

|Oct record high F = 92

|Nov record high F = 84

|Dec record high F = 75

|year record high F= 106

|Jan high F = 34.1

|Feb high F = 37.9

|Mar high F = 46.8

|Apr high F = 58.9

|May high F = 69.8

|Jun high F = 77.8

|Jul high F = 82.3

|Aug high F = 80.8

|Sep high F = 73.1

|Oct high F = 62.2

|Nov high F = 50.9

|Dec high F = 38.7

|year high F= 59.4

|Jan low F = 15.8

|Feb low F = 17.9

|Mar low F = 25.7

|Apr low F = 36.1

|May low F = 45.4

|Jun low F = 55.1

|Jul low F = 60.0

|Aug low F = 58.0

|Sep low F = 50.1

|Oct low F = 38.4

|Nov low F = 31.0

|Dec low F = 21.6

|year low F= 37.9

|Jan record low F = −29

|Feb record low F = −23

|Mar record low F = −10

|Apr record low F = 9

|May record low F = 24

|Jun record low F = 33

|Jul record low F = 40

|Aug record low F = 34

|Sep record low F = 27

|Oct record low F = 13

|Nov record low F = 6

|Dec record low F = −13

|year record low F= −29

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation inch = 3.19

|Feb precipitation inch = 2.83

|Mar precipitation inch = 3.69

|Apr precipitation inch = 4.27

|May precipitation inch = 4.10

|Jun precipitation inch = 4.41

|Jul precipitation inch = 4.02

|Aug precipitation inch = 4.18

|Sep precipitation inch = 4.23

|Oct precipitation inch = 4.52

|Nov precipitation inch = 3.47

|Dec precipitation inch = 3.74

|Jan snow inch = 13.8

|Feb snow inch = 9.4

|Mar snow inch = 6.5

|Apr snow inch = 2.0

|May snow inch = 0

|Jun snow inch = 0

|Jul snow inch = 0

|Aug snow inch = 0

|Sep snow inch = 0

|Oct snow inch = 0

|Nov snow inch = 1.3

|Dec snow inch = 9.2

|unit precipitation days = 0.01 in

|Jan precipitation days = 10.6

|Feb precipitation days = 8.6

|Mar precipitation days = 11.1

|Apr precipitation days = 12.4

|May precipitation days = 12.6

|Jun precipitation days = 11.0

|Jul precipitation days = 10.9

|Aug precipitation days = 10.7

|Sep precipitation days = 9.1

|Oct precipitation days = 10.1

|Nov precipitation days = 9.9

|Dec precipitation days = 10.7

|unit snow days = 0.1 in

|Jan snow days = 5.4

|Feb snow days = 3.7

|Mar snow days = 2.6

|Apr snow days = .5

|May snow days = 0

|Jun snow days = 0

|Jul snow days = 0

|Aug snow days = 0

|Sep snow days = 0

|Oct snow days = .1

|Nov snow days = .6

|Dec snow days = 3.2

|source 1 = NOAA (extremes 1893–present)

{{cite web

|url = http://www.nws.noaa.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=phi

|title = NowData – NOAA Online Weather Data

|publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

|access-date = October 17, 2015}}

|date=October 2015}}

File:Bog Turtle.jpg

Several large tracts of land within the Papakating watershed are protected areas 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 and Stokes State Forest. 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 as part of the larger Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, [http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Wallkill_River/wildlife_and_habitat/index.html Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge: New Jersey and New York]. Retrieved July 26, 2015. 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 (brook, brown, and rainbow) in the Spring and early Summer by the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife for recreational fishing.New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, [http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/wk2trt15.htm 2015 Spring Trout Stocking Schedule: Week 2, April 13–17] (2015). Retrieved July 31, 2015.

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, [http://nj.gov/dep/njnlt/papakatingcreek.htm 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 fen wetland site in order to aid the "recovery of the federal threatened and state endangered bog turtle" (Glyptemys muhlenbergii), and preserve "plant habitat for the rare Fraser's Saint John's wort" (Triadenum fraseri).The Trust for Public Land, [https://www.tpl.org/our-work/land-and-water/armstrong-bog Armstrong Bog]. Retrieved July 31, 2015.Brian T. Murray, [http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/sussex_county_marshland_armstr.html "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 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 which provides "habitat ideal for wood turtles and yellow-throated warblers".

• Black Dirt Region
• List of landforms in Sussex County, New Jersey
• List of place names of Native American origin in New Jersey
• List of rivers of New Jersey

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• [http://www.wallkillriver.org/ Wallkill River Watershed Management Group]
• [http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nj/nwis/current/?type=flow U.S. Geological Survey: NJ stream gaging stations]

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Category:Rivers of New Jersey

Category:Rivers of Sussex County, New Jersey

Category:Tributaries of the Wallkill River

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