Neepaulakating Creek is a 2.4-mile long (3.8 km)

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

Papakating Creek Papakating Creek is a tributary of the Wallkill River located in Frankford and Wantage townships in Sussex County, New Jersey in the United States. The creek rises in a small swamp located beneath the eastern face of Kittatinny Mountain in Fran ...

in Wantage Township in

Sussex County, New Jersey Sussex County is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. Its county seat is Newton. ...

in the United States.United States Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System
Feature Detail Report for: Neepaulakating Creek
Retrieved June 26, 2015.United States Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
Retrieved June 26, 2015. Note: The upper elevation of its headwaters is approximately 640 feet above mean sea level derived from a reading of the USGS NHD topographic map. The NHD information provides the elevation the mouth at 395 feet above mean sea level. See also: United States Geological Survey, ''Hamburg, NJ Quadrangle USGS 1:24 Topographic Map 41074B5'' and ''Branchville, NJ Quadrangle USGS 1:24 Topographic Map 41074B4''. It is one of three streams feeding the Papakating Creek, a major contributor to the

Wallkill River The Wallkill River, a tributary of the Hudson, drains Lake Mohawk in Sparta, New Jersey, flowing from there generally northeasterly U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed Octo ...

. Although the stream was

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

med in the 1950s to create Lake Neepaulin as the focal point of a private residential development, the stream did not receive a name until 2002. Residents chose a name that combined elements of the names "Neepaulin" and "Papakating", and submitted a proposal to the

United States Board of Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

. The name was approved in 2004.

Course and watershed

Neepaulakating Creek is small

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

whose

headwaters The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The ...

are located at 640 feet (195 m) above sea level approximately 0.4 miles (0.6 km) northwest of the north end of Lake Neepaulin.Friends of Lake Neepaulin, Nathaniel Sajdak, Jennifer E. Runyon (USGS), United States Board of Geographic Names
Case Brief: Neepaulakating Creek
(2002). Retrieved June 26, 2015. These headwaters are located a short distance south of County Route 650 (Libertyville Road) roughly halfway between the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Libertville in Wantage Township and Sussex Borough. The stream flows into Lake Neepaulin located at 509 ft (155 m) above sea level.United States Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System
Feature Detail Report for: Lake Neepaulin
Retrieved July 20, 2015. The man-made lake, created through

ming, is the centre of a private residential development.Eric Oberhauer, "Wantage resident suing over costs of Lake Neepaulin dam", ''The New Jersey Herald'', April 22, 2012. It flows southeast from the lake's dam in the southeast direction for another 1.5 miles (2.4 km) before flowing into

. It enters Papakating Creek at 395 feet (120 m) above sea level approximately 2.5 miles (4 km) upstream of that creek's junction with the Wallkill River at a location directly south of Sussex Borough along County Route 565 near the hamlet of Lewisburg in Wantage Township and near Sussex Airport. Along with the

Clove Brook Clove Brook is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed October 3, 2011 tributary of Papakating Creek in Sussex County, New Jersey in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garden ...

and

West Branch Papakating Creek West Branch Papakating Creek is a tributary of Papakating Creek located in Frankford and Wantage townships in Sussex County, New Jersey, in the United States. See also * Clove Brook * Neepaulakating Creek * Wallkill River * List of rivers in ...

, Neepaulakating Creek is one of the tributaries that form the watershed of Papakating Creek, a major tributary of the

. The Papakating Creek watershed is located in the

Kittatinny Valley The Kittatinny Valley is a section of the Great Appalachian Valley in Sussex and Warren counties in northwestern New Jersey that is bounded on the northwest by Kittatinny Mountain, and in the southeast by the New Jersey Highlands region. The val ...

, is underlain by dark shale and limestone of the Martinsburg Formation, and has soils of glacial origin. The topography of the Papakating Creek's watershed ranges from gentle slopes in the east to steeper slopes in the west.New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Watershed Management
Amendment to the Sussex County Water Quality Management Plan: Total Maximum Daily Load to Address Phosphorus in the Clove Acres Lake and Papakating Creek Northwest Water Region
(2004), 9, 15. Retrieved June 26, 2015. According to the

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is a government agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is responsible for managing the state's natural resources and addressing issues related to pollution. NJDEP now has a staff o ...

(NJDEP), the Papakating watershed consists of gently sloping farmland, forested land, wetlands, older individually built homes, and low-density residential development.New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection,
State Development & Redevelopment Plan. Plan Endorsement Opportunities & Constraints: Analysis for Township of Frankford, Sussex County
' (2009), 14, 16. Retrieved June 26, 2015. According to NJDEP reports, two developed lake communities in the Papakating Creek watershed—Lake Neepaulin and the nearby Clove Acres Lake contribute to

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...

loading in the waters of Papakating Creek. The phosphorus loading may originate from the runoff of

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

applications on residential lawns, nearby agricultural operations, or from large populations of

geese A goose (plural, : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family (biology), family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser (bird), Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some o ...

that inhabit the lakes.

History and naming

In the 1950s, a real estate developer dammed an unnamed stream located to the west and south of Sussex Borough and created Lake Neepaulin. The lake was the center of a planned private lakeside residential community. In 2002, an organization known as Friends of Lake Neepaulin, began using "Neepaulakating Creek" as a new name for an unnamed stream that was dammed to create the lake. After a review of resources available on the internet,

topographic map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but historic ...

s, and other government and historical documents, a state engineer reported there was no evidence the stream had any previous name. The name chosen, Neepaulakating, was a combination of portions of the names "Neepaulin" and "Papakating". Lake Neepaulin was named after a combination of the original developers children's names. A formal proposal prepared by the residents was submitted to the Board of Geographic Names by Nathaniel Sajdak, described as the Outreach Coordinator of the Wallkill River Watershed and a member of Friends of Lake Neepaulin. Sajdak reported to the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

Board of Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

that studies such as visual and biological assessments were carried out on the unnamed stream by the Lake Neepaulin Lake Association for roughly two years, during which time they had begun to call it "Neepaulakating Creek". On February 25, 2004, the Sussex County

Board of Chosen Freeholders In New Jersey, a Board of County Commissioners (until 2020 named the Board of Chosen Freeholders) is the elected county-wide government board in each of the state's 21 counties. In the five counties that have an elected county executive, the b ...

unanimously approved a resolution to support the naming, stating that the county government "defers to the Township of Wantage and concurs with the naming of the tributary as 'Neepaulakating Creek'". On April 8, 2004, the Board of Geographic Names approved the proposal.Letter from Roger L. Payne (USGS) to James L. Doherty (Wantage Township Administrator Clerk)
(April 30, 2004). Retrieved June 26, 2015. Quote: "U.S. Board on Geographic Names, at its April 8, 2004, meeting, approved the proposal to name an unnamed stream in Sussex County, Neepaulakating Creek. This decision was made in agreement with the findings and recommendations of your office, the government of Sussex County, and the New Jersey Board on Geographic Names."

Gallery

File:Neepaulakating Creek near headwaters.jpg, Neepaulakating Creek near its headwaters File:Lake_Neepaulin_seen_from_dam_Wantage_Twsp_NJ.jpg, Lake Neepaulin looking northwest from the dam File:Lake Neepaulin dam.jpg, Lake Neepaulin dam File:Neepaulakating Creek downstream from Lake Neepaulin dam.jpg, Looking southeast (downstream) from the dam File:Neepaulakating Creek and marsh near Newton Ave Wantage Twsp.jpg, The creek and marsh near Newton Avenue in Wantage File:Neepaulakating Creek at CR639.jpg, The creek before it flows under County Route 639

References

External links

Wallkill River Watershed Management Group
{{authority control Rivers of New Jersey Rivers of Sussex County, New Jersey Papakating Creek watershed Tributaries of the Wallkill River