Muddy Run Preserve & Lockatong Recreation Area

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Muddy Run Preserve

The 65-acre Muddy Run Preserve borders Lockatong Creek, a tributary of the Delaware River. It encompasses hayfields, forested areas, and wetlands. Nearby, the Lockatong flows through the seven-acre Lockatong Recreation Area.

The property provides wildlife habitat, watershed protection, flood control, groundwater recharge, proximity to other preserved properties, and recreational opportunities.

Muddy Run features an informal trail around the fields, known as Todd Kratzer’s Trail. There is a graveled parking area near the HLT preserve sign on Kingwood-Locktown Road (see below). Make sure to stay on the graveled area when parking to avoid getting your car stuck in the mud. (The preserve does live up to its name!)

New Jersey Water Supply Authority is part-owner of a portion of the preserve.

Lockatong Creek Recreation Area

Located off County Route 519, the Hunterdon Land Trust sought to preserve Lockatong Creek Recreation Area because it is near several recently preserved properties and the Lockatong Creek flows directly through it. The preserve is seven acres.

Hunterdon Land Trust purchased the property in 2014 from Chester Podpora, who had spent the past 40 years enjoying the symphony of nature heard from the land.

Efforts to protect this property, and others like it, also serve to forward the goals of the National Park Service’s Lower Delaware Wild & Scenic Program, which aims to protect the remarkable natural, historic, and recreational resources that earned this stretch of the river the Wild and Scenic designation.

Project partners: New Jersey Water Supply Authority, New Jersey Green Acres program, Hunterdon County Open Space Trust Fund, Kingwood Township, and Conservation Resources, Inc.