Paul Goldfinger © Wesley Lake from the OG side—the Moonstruck view.  The Lake looks better at night.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net

Lately Blogfinger has been focusing on Wesley Lake’s issues.  Opinions, disagreements, facts, speculation, and fake news are emerging with some regularity  and from a variety of sources including citizens, politicians, environmentalists, engineers, and members of the WL Comission, among others.

Yesterday, over a lunch of vegetable sandwiches, onion soup and Greek salad at Seagrass, three concerned citizens exchanged ideas about the Lake. In attendance was Asburian Doug McQueen, a Wesley Lake Commissioner  with a lively interest in the topic; Ted Bell, a Grover,  life-long environmentalist and OG historian with a keen interest in the Lake’s problems; and myself–a reporter from Blogfinger.  But first we had to decide on a square table or a round table.

All of us agreed that Wesley Lake’s survival is questionable and that a variety of actions are required. We knew that there were many opinions, some of them conflicting, and that the Wesley Lake Commission was a bit lost in figuring out what to do.

We also agreed that neither town, Asbury or Neptune, were placing the problem at a high location on their priority list.  In the case of Asbury Park, they are working on an updated master plan, and Doug was hopeful that they would get more involved. The New Jersey DEP (Department of Environmental Protection)  is supposedly going to look into consolidating the management of the coastal lakes around here in 2018, and we thought that would be useful.

We also were on the same page regarding the major source of the Lake’s troubles—- street water runoff and siltation, and that the issue is only going to get worse due to development on both sides, unless a variety of actions are taken.  Both sides pointed to the OG North End as a potential troublemaker, but, at this point, that project seems to be dormant. We all agreed that a private developer could not allow untreated street runoff to enter WL without  DEP approval.

We all love Wesley Lake and we say that even now it is a beautiful place, but the silt formation is getting worse, and that extensive (and expensive) dredging is the main action to be required.

Here is an important Blogfinger article about  some of these topics. Please read it:

2016 BF post about Wesley Lake

However, below is a summary of opinions at the meeting, some of which are divergent :

a. How bad is the Lake?   Some say that it is already “dead” but Ted says that it is alive, however its ecological condition is only “fair” and getting worse.  He says that, “A lake is born to die.”  But he believes the Lake is salvageable. If it goes the wrong way, it could become a “swamp.”

Without testing for contaminants  (such as arsenic, oil residues, etc. ) and measuring the depth of siltation,  an exact risk assessment is not possible.  Because of the silt, the water depths are fairly shallow, and the lake is muddy  (almost as muddy as our conversations on the subject.)  No one swims there or fishes there, and the only boats are the shape of swans, but no one would confuse them with real swans.  No Tchaikovsky for them!.

b. What about the life of the Lake?  Ted says that signs of life include a 50 year old colony of Barn Swallows which live under the bridges and are threatened by swan boats. These birds with a forked tail eat bugs and mosquitoes and can be seen catching flies at the beach in late Summer. Cormorants  (black shore birds) have been spotted at the Lake catching fish (e.g. 6 inches) which are probably catfish.  Ted says that the Lake would never be suitable for swimming, but, with the right measures, other fish and wildlife could return along with the boats.  Finding increased wildlife at the Lake would, according to Ted, mean that Wesley (our nickname for this body of water) is getting better—–not worse.

c. Who changed the name of the OG side to Retention/Detention basin?  Doug says that it was the Neptune engineer Leeann Hoffmann who changed the name and  said it would help the Town get grants for the Lake, but a resolution by the Town would have been required to change the Tax Map, and that resolution does not exist; and we don’t know who might have ordered her to take that action.

Doug did not agree that this name issue was a big deal, but we on the OG side see a potential threat from the North End Redevelopment Plan that ties into that name change.

d. Is the Lake natural or man-made?  Is it an estuary?       Clearly it is natural because even a map from 1851 shows multiple streams coming into Long Pond, and the State has acknowledged that WL was and is an estuary.

Portion of Jesse Lightfoot map of Monmouth County, 1851. See multiple streams coming into Long Pond  (now Wesley Lake) and open communication with the Ocean. (Goose Pond is now Fletcher Lake.) Og was founded in 1869.

But Doug disagreed that ocean water might, under some conditions, enter the Lake now.  Recently there was a flow reversal, but he says that it was due to a DEP verified blockage  where a pipe carries Lake water to the Ocean.

Ted said that it would be possible to return the Lake to a functioning estuary with twice daily tidal cleanouts, but that project would be very expensive.

Regarding whether or not WL can be referred to as “man-made,” Doug asserted that it might be considered man-made if one were to define the Lake as “a natural lake that has been altered by man.”  However , the “engineer” that spoke at the WL Commission called the Lake “man-made,” but he did not mention the nuanced definition described above.

In fact he refused to explain his use of the “man made” designation when BF asked him about it at that meeting.  So, unless there is some definitive support for using the name “man-made” to describe WL , most reasonable people would conclude that Wesley Lake is a natural body of water.

e.  Is it legal for the two towns to dump street water into the Lake? Doug thinks it is because he says that the two towns have “storm water discharge permits.”  He says that the DEP verified that fact for him by phone, but if those permits had been granted, it would have required Township resolutions, and no such resolutions exist in Neptune.

Until we see something in writing, Blogfinger will consider this “fact” to be an opinion, along with the opinion that the dumping is “illegal.”

f. Is the Lake protected as a place for recreation and conservation by the Neptune ROSI list and by Green Acres?    Doug implied that it was not because he says Neptune receives no State money for WL, but because it is on the official Neptune ROSI list, WL is protected.

g. Were riparian grants ever issued to the two towns for work on the Lake such as the bulkheads which caused some ecological damage?   None of us were aware of those grants, so we think that they don’t exist. Maybe the Camp Meeting has the papers.

h. Why doesn’t the WLC have a watershed (jurisdictional) map as required by its charter?  Doug says that it has been promised by the Townships.

i. Is it possible to reclaim the Lake with preventive measures other than dredging?   Ted said that there were measures that could help clean the street water runoff such as encouraging green areas (eg grassy strips), to reduce the use of certain fertilizers, trash pickup every two weeks, better enforcement of dog poop laws because coliform bacteria get into the Lake, water aeration (already in place), and don’t forget that the Lake will “clean itself” through natural mechanisms if given the opportunity. Of course a treatment plant to clean the water before it enters the Lake  (and the Ocean) would be amazing if possible and affordable.

By this time, the restaurant was crowded and very noisy, and we three had about enough ecology talk.  So we paid the bill and stepped out into the fine Ocean air, agreeing that our meeting was useful and potentially productive.

If we can fix the lake, maybe Lenny and the Lenni Lenape Indians might return for pizza and ice-cream on the OG side and sushi and hip chicks on the AP side.

HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS