Next Phase of County Park Pond Project Starts

SWAINTON — The next few months will bring additional enhancements to the main Cape May County Park.
According to a release, park visitors will notice beautification and plantings being installed around the main pond, west of Route 9.  With the support of a $500,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection, the pond was dredged in March 2018.  
The materials, which were tested and found to be safe organic matter, were transported to a site along Court House-South Dennis Road, where they have been used to create a berm bordering the rear of the African Savannah.    
Over the coming weeks, county staff will install a variety of grasses, bushes, and trees along the edge of the pond, per plans designed to deter the use of the area by Canada geese.  
This will result in the area being more aesthetically pleasing and usable for park visitors.  
Also, water quality in the pond, which suffered from many geese that had traditionally used the site, will improve.  Ongoing monitoring will confirm the water quality benefit.  
Dredging will also soon begin on “Pond 2”, located in County Park East. Starting the week of Sept. 17, and in keeping with DEP permit conditions, the fish from the pond were safely harvested and relocated, and then water levels were lowered.  
Dredging will begin in the final weeks of September, with dredge materials being placed in a containment area in the existing parking lot adjacent the tennis courts. 
Those materials will remain on site for two to three months to dewater in advance of transport by the county to the same site along the eastern side of Court House-South Dennis Road at the western edge of the savannah.  Once placed on that site, the berm will be expanded to provide an additional visual buffer, and grasses and other landscaping materials will be planted to make it visually appealing.   
The tennis courts will remain open, but the parking area will be closed when the dredge materials are onsite.