The Tenakill.  The stinky, murky, nasty, sorry-excuse-of-a-river that runs from Tenafly to Westwood.  Cresskill’s poster child of pollution, and the consequences of dumping one too many plastic bottles and chip bags in a river.  But what if I were to tell you that this reputation may not be entirely deserved?  That’s right, our humble Tenakill may be on the receiving end of unjustified levels of criticism and complaints.  

But first, I think it’s a good idea to expand on how the Tenakill spans Bergen county.  The Tenakill itself begins in the middle of Tenafly.  It runs through the town and into Cresskill, where it passes through the recreational center and Cresskill’s suburbs, before reaching the high school, where it joins with its lesser known cousin, the Cresskill Brook.  It goes along the football field and eventually widens into the Demarest Pond, after which it once again narrows down, going into the Demarest Nature Center.  It continues through and past it, moving into Closter and running alongside the aptly named Tenakill St, where it eventually empties out into the Oradell Reservoir!  Pretty lengthy river, right?

The problem is, this river runs through the busiest parts of Tenafly, Closter, and Westwood.  This means that a lot of people will chuck the occasional piece of trash over their shoulders, thinking nothing of it, as that junk falls into the water below.  A piece here, a piece there.  However, over time, it builds up, leading to disappointing scenes like these:

So yeah, that part of the reputation may be deserved in some spots.  This said, though, it’s important to note that there are a lot of groups here in the Northern Valley area  working to combat this problem!  The Demarest Nature Center is a leader in these efforts, attempting to clean the waterway with seasonal cleanups of the brook and its surrounding banks, which often show tangible results!  Ray Slaman, licensed arborist and board member of the Demarest Nature center, explains how “The levels of pollution have been encouragingly good over the past half decade. Laws protecting the waterways that began in the 1970s have had a positive impact on the Tenakill”.  He explains that the Tenakill is, in fact, a healthy river, feeding into the highly regulated Oradell Reservoir and providing drinking water for over a million people in the region!  Another group that contributes to the cause is Tenafly High School, which often holds cleanups of the brook where they work to remove pollutants from the water. You don’t even have to stray out of Cresskill to see this change, where we have multiple clubs involved with the cleanup of our town as well as the brook.  Gavin Kim, a leading member of the Nature Environmental club here at Cresskill High School, talks about how in the club, “We do some important work making sure the diversity of our rivers are preserved. This river is a key part of the environment in places other than Cresskill too.  Our cleanups are our best attempts at trying to protect this important body of water and its surroundings.”

Along with this, a little known fact is that the Tenakill has come a long way in terms of overall cleanliness this past decade.  In 2013, New Jersey Fish and Wildlife began work on the Tenakill Brook Watershed Protection and Restoration Plan, detailed in the 200 page document seen here.  Long, I’m aware.  One of the main issues addressed were the pathogens present in the water such as E. Coli, which were there because of the constant littering affecting the water.  In order to fix this issue, various Tenakill watersheds (points of brook drainage/splitting) and buffers (grasses/bushes set up along the water to shrink areas of littering) were created, leading to rapid improvements in water quality!  Even universities like Rutgers and Fairleigh Dickinson have led efforts to clean up the brook, further contributing to beneficial effects in water quality.  

Even you can do something about it!  Mr. Slaman emphasized, “It is incumbent on people to understand how their behavior impacts the natural environment. Small individual choices combine to make a sea of change. Simple things like litter and trash dropped on the street find their way into the brook. Toxic chemicals spilled are washed into sewers and into waterways.”  To prevent this issue, he suggests that we “Deposit trash where it belongs. Be aware that everything is connected.”  He brings up a very important aspect of preserving the Tenakill’s health, which is that it’s up to us to prevent its pollution!  It’s easy to walk by the water, see a plastic bottle, and shake our head in disappointment, even when that floating bottle may in fact be the exact one you left on that field the other day, because there’s no way that could’ve ended up in the brook, right?

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  The Tenakill being cleaned up in recent years is great and all, but what good is the Tenakill being cleaned up if there’s nothing we can even do with it?  The brook is surely useless… right?  Well, I’m here to prove you wrong again!  There are a lot of fun and worthwhile activities the Tenakill can offer right in, what’s basically, our backyard.  One that anyone can enjoy is hiking along the river in the Demarest Nature Center, where you can take in the serenity of nature, and observe the hundreds of forest critters that rely on the brook!  

Another activity that you can partake in on the river is kayaking and canoeing!  Albeit somewhat impractical at times, Demarest holds an annual kayaking day on the Demarest Duck Pond for all people interested, where you can rent out a canoe to go out on the water with friends and family for a fun-filled evening.  The river really does look different when you’re on level with it, and there’s no better way to feel the beauty of nature in a town so close to home.  

And finally, an activity that’s often laughed off by our community: fishing on the Tenakill!  Yes, an initial glance at the brook, and you may be inclined to think there’re no bites to be had in the cloudy water, but you’d be wrong.  The Tenakill offers some of the best carp and bullhead fishing I’ve ever seen!  I’ve gone fishing there five times now, and haven’t skunked (to not catch any fish) on any of those trips!  The massive carp in particular, though tricky to get to bite, offer an exhilarating fight no other fish quite provides (dangle some bread/corn on a hook in the water; you’ll thank me), and swim around in droves in the brook.  Trout is stocked every spring in the Demarest Nature Center, a fish whose presence in the Tenakill didn’t even surprise seasoned fisherman Mr. Malinowski, who remarked: “I’m not shocked to hear that the Tenakill is stocked with rainbow trout regularly, but the fact that NJ fish and wildlife maintains it as an official stocking location definitely speaks to the fact that the water source is relatively healthy and viable to maintain such a species”.  

Heck, I’ve even seen the occasional 3lb+ bass dart around the waters, but its bite has eluded me.  And even if you don’t catch any fish, you can always fall back on the fact that there is no feeling quite like a quiet fishing trip on that river, especially in the later hours of the day, where the downright picturesque scenery feels straight out of a Disney movie.    

My point in all of this is to prove to you that, while the Tenakill has a ways to go in terms of cleanliness (and certainly shouldn’t become your new favorite source of drinking water), positive change is being made on the river day in and day out, and it can offer endless fun and enjoyment, as long as you’re willing to find it!