One of the primary ongoing missions of the Wallkill River Watershed Management Group (WRWMG) is to raise awareness about the watersheds of Sussex County and generate stakeholder participation in various watershed management activities. 

WRWMG Outreach Initiatives:

• Upper Paulins Kill Watershed Restoration Partnership with McKeown Elementary School
• Wallkill River Reforestation Corridor Initiative with Sparta High School and Sparta Middle School
• High Point Regional High School Woodborne Park Reforestation Project
• Community Watershed Restoration Initiative with the Town of Newton and Newton Public Schools
• Educational presentations at schools and publicly attended events
• Informational presentations at county and municipal meetings, conferences, and seminars
• Educational displays at the Sussex County Farm and Horse Show 
• SCMUA-WRWMG Earth Energy Day
• Watershed Clean-ups
• WRWMG website development

Watershed Restoration Partnership with McKeown Elementary School

The WRWMG is partnering with students and faculty from McKeown Elementary to implement restoration initiatives that will directly improve the water quality of the Paulins Kill.

As part of this effort, McKeown students have:

• worked with a soil scientist to determine if the school's soil conditions were appropriate for a rain garden
• calculated the volume of stormwater entering the storm drains from the school's impervious surfaces
• constructed a rain garden with assistance from Rutgers Water Resources Program and many local partners
• planted a riparian buffer of native trees and shrubs at the Sussex County Homestead Complex
• gave a presentation about their school's watershed restoration efforts in front of 150 conservation partners
• participated in a week-long stormwater summer camp to learn how to protect the Paulins Kill Watershed
• painted and constructed rain barrels to capture rooftop runoff during rainstorms at their school