Eatontown Supports Whale Pond Brook Watershed Project

Eatontown has decided to support an environmental group that hopes to improve the area's watershed and create a "greenway" from its source in Tinton Falls to the ocean in Long Branch.

The Eatontown Council passed a resolution during Tuesday night's council meeting that supports the borough's membership in the Whale Pond Brook Watershed Project.

Whale Pond Brook is a watershed that runs through Tinton Falls, Ocean Township, Eatontown, West Long Branch and Long Branch. West Long Branch is now the only town that has not passed a resolution similar to the one passed by the borough council last night.

Whale Pond Brook Watershed Association volunteer Faith Teitelbaum said her group as already held several cleanups in Eatontown and Long Branch and hopes to continue to do so.

After cleanups and improvement projects are completed in other towns, one of the main goals of the group is to , Teitelbaum said.

Problems upstream such as flooding near Christopher Way in Eatontown must be remedied before downstream bodies of water such as Lake Takanassee can be addressed.

The greenway would be another goal for the group, and Teitelbaum said she believes it would be utilized by many people if all the towns work with the association.

"The greenway would be an attraction  because not only would it include a beautiful hike but also  historic sites such as the 100 year old Ross Island cottage, the old Brinley grist mill site, the Woodrow Wilson Hall at Monmouth University,  beautiful Takanassee Lake and historic Life Saving Station No 5," the association states on its web site.

The association's next scheduled cleanup is March 17 at Corbett Way in Eatontown.