The Saddle River flows south through much of

Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The river runs through densely populated suburban areas for much of its course. The river takes its name from the river near

Saddell Saddell ( gd, Saghadal, ) is a small Scottish village situated on the east side of the Kintyre Peninsula of Argyll and Bute, overlooking the Kilbrannan Sound and the Isle of Arran, from Campbeltown on the B842 road to Carradale. The name Sa ...

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020) ...

in Scotland. The headwaters of the Saddle River are in the piedmont terrain of

Rockland County Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of th ...

, in southern

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

state. Streams from this area flow south, forming the Saddle River at their confluence, two miles south of the New York state border, in the town of Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. From its feeder streams in Upper Saddle River and the source in

Airmont, New York Airmont is a village in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of the state of New Jersey, east of Suffern, south of Montebello, and west of Chestnut Ridge. The population was 8,628 at the 2010 census. The ...

, the Saddle River continues south for 16.3 miles, passing through the towns of Saddle River, Waldwick,

Ho-Ho-Kus Ho-Ho-Kus () is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,258, an increase of 180 (+4.4%) from the 2010 census count of 4,078, which in turn reflected an increase ...

Ridgewood Ridgewood may refer to: Geography Australia *Ridgewood, Western Australia Canada * Ridgewood, Ontario *Ridgewood, Edmonton, Alberta United Kingdom *Ridgewood, East Sussex United States *Ridgewood Heights, California * Ridgewood, Illinois *Ridge ...

, Glen Rock,

Paramus Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...

, Fair Lawn, Rochelle Park,

Saddle Brook Saddle Brook is a Township (New Jersey), township in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 13,659, reflecting an increase of 504 (+3.8%) from the ...

, Lodi,

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his human ...

, and Wallington. The

Ho-Ho-Kus Brook Ho-Ho-Kus Brook is a tributary of the Saddle River (which is itself a tributary of the Passaic River) in Bergen County, New Jersey, in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garden State Canoeing'', Seneca Press, 2002. The brook originates in Mah ...

, a major tributary, joins the Saddle River at the Dunkerhook area of

Saddle River County Park Saddle River County Park is a county park in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, stretching from Ridgewood to Rochelle Park, and extends out to Glen Rock. The park is located along the Saddle River and consists of five sections, all o ...

. Their confluence marks the border of four Bergen County towns:

, Glen Rock and Fair Lawn. The terminus of the Saddle River is at Garfield and Wallington, where the waterway empties into the

Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...

. The Passaic River drains at

Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, t ...

and via

Arthur Kill The Arthur Kill (sometimes referred to as the Staten Island Sound) is a tidal strait between Staten Island (also known as Richmond County), New York and Union and Middlesex counties, New Jersey. It is a major navigational channel of the Port of ...

and

Kill van Kull __NOTOC__ The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks the ...

to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. The northern part of the Saddle River watershed drains an area between the

Ramapo River The Ramapo River is a tributary of the Pompton River, approximately 30 mi (48 km) long, in southern New York and northern New Jersey in the United States. Course The Ramapo river rises in Round Lake, a small freshwater lake in the Town ...

watershed to the west, and the

Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subur ...

watershed to the east. Fish species in the Saddle River include

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

, pickerel,

bullhead catfish ''Ameiurus'' is a genus of catfishes in the family Ictaluridae. It contains the three common types of bullhead catfish found in waters of the United States, the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas''), the brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus''), a ...

, sunfish and different varieties of

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

. Most of the trout are stocked by the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, although the uppermost reaches of the river and some of its tributaries hold wild brown trout. These wild trout are threatened by increased residential use of lawn fertilizer which contributes to algae and weed growth.

Tributaries

References

External links

U.S. Geological Survey: NJ stream gaging stations

Flood-Inundation Maps for the Saddle River in Ho-Ho-Kus Borough, the Village of Ridgewood, and Paramus Borough, New Jersey, 2013

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, ...

{{authority control Rivers of Bergen County, New Jersey Rivers of Rockland County, New York Tributaries of the Passaic River Rivers of New Jersey Rivers of New York (state)

Tributaries

See also

References

External links