The Watershed Institute

The Watershed Institute Come visit our Watershed Center and Reserve including 950 acres and over 10 miles of beautiful trails

Since 1949, we’ve worked to protect your water and environment through conservation, advocacy, science and education. We speak out for your water and environment, protect and restore sensitive habitats, test our waterways for pollution and inspire others to care for and protect the natural world. Our goal is to improve the health and quality of central New Jersey’s water and sustain a network of p

rotected habitats for wildlife and people. We have a successful track record of more than 65 years of effective environmental protection. As a non-profit organization we depend on the support of members and volunteers to make a difference. Become a member today and help us protect central New Jersey’s water and environment.

The Watershed Institute is excited to release the 2026 Clean Water Report Card, which compiles five years of water quali...
08/31/2026

The Watershed Institute is excited to release the 2026 Clean Water Report Card, which compiles five years of water quality data from central New Jersey. This comprehensive data enables us to assess the impacts of pollution and land use on our streams and guides our efforts to protect and improve water quality.

The 2026 Clean Water Report Card provides an interactive and visually engaging way to explore the data gathered by all three teams in The Watershed Institute's volunteer water quality monitoring program, StreamWatch. The report evaluates temperature, turbidity, pH, nitrate, phosphate, chloride, macroinvertebrates, and E. coli data collected from January 2021 through December 2025. Individual sites are scored as excellent, good, fair, or poor according to the NJ DEP Surface Water Quality Standards for each parameter.

The site scores are then grouped by municipality and subwatershed, enabling the generation of overall scores for these areas. This approach allows for a comprehensive assessment of water quality at both specific sites and broader geographic levels.

The report includes a change analysis, offering insight into how water quality conditions are shifting over time. The report highlights both improvements and emerging concerns across municipalities and subwatersheds. This added context could help identify where restoration efforts are making a difference and where additional attention may be needed.

https://ow.ly/9S5550ZHqLm

Join us for Bilingual Green Infrastructure Maintenance TrainingWhen: Friday, October 30 from 9 a.m. -- 3 p.m. Where: The...
08/31/2026

Join us for Bilingual Green Infrastructure Maintenance Training

When: Friday, October 30 from 9 a.m. -- 3 p.m.
Where: The Watershed Institute
31 Titus Mill Rd, Pennington, NJ

Sign up here: https://ow.ly/EH8150ZABLA

This course will have two sessions being taught simultaneously, in separate rooms. One room will be taught in English-only, and one room will be taught in Spanish-only.

This training is suitable for Department of Public Works crews, facilities staff, or landscape crews and leaders who maintain green infrastructure features like rain gardens, meadows, or naturalized detention basins.

This workshop provides practical training that crews can apply immediately when maintaining green infrastructure features in your town or at your facility.

In this workshop, you will learn:

How stormwater impacts local waterways

Inspection, care, and adaptive management of green stormwater infrastructure

Native plant selection and identification for BMPs

Common invasive species and management approaches

How to read, interpret, and contribute to BMP maintenance plans

Please register soon, as we have a limited number of spots! Registration ends October 23th or when class is full. If you have any questions, contact Olivia at [email protected]

This program is provided in partnership with the Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council, Kean University, and Mercer County Community College.

On the first Saturday in October, we will hold our Watershed FEST – our largest annual fundraising event. Proceeds will ...
08/30/2026

On the first Saturday in October, we will hold our Watershed FEST – our largest annual fundraising event. Proceeds will be used to maintain and enhance our programs, to support the work we do to protect and restore our water and natural environment through conservation, advocacy, science, and education.

Register today:

https://ow.ly/w5YZ50ZAzLL

Meet the author and get your book signed at The Watershed Institute!Sept. 175:30 p.m.at the Watershed CenterA Field of M...
08/29/2026

Meet the author and get your book signed at The Watershed Institute!

Sept. 17
5:30 p.m.
at the Watershed Center

A Field of My Own, A Memoir of Place: Author Cynthia McVay, in conversation with Sophie Glovier, Chief of Strategy and Program at The Watershed Institute

A lifelong creative and environmentalist, McVay chronicles her intimate, two-decade relationship with a flagging orchard in the Hudson Valley. As a single working mother, she was looking for a weekend escape from New York City, a piece of green, a place to call her own. One blustery winter day, she falls in love with a meadow and her life is forever altered. She renovates the modest cottage, builds a pondish-pool, creates pollinating, native gardens from orphans and strays, learns to forage and runs the tractor. A decade in, as architect and general contractor, she moves an enormous 180-year-old hand-hewn Amish barn to the property to make her sustainable home. Snarky contractors, a tippling partner, puzzling neighbors, concerning caretakers, black rat snakes and coyote chases are minor setbacks; each day brings joy and serenity. This engaging memoir of place is generous and honest, packed with useful know-how and humor.

Thank you to our Summer AWE Fellow, Aisha Swaray, a Biology major at Villanova University! Aisha, who lives in Trenton, ...
08/28/2026

Thank you to our Summer AWE Fellow, Aisha Swaray, a Biology major at Villanova University! Aisha, who lives in Trenton, New Jersey, began her Watershed journey years ago, as a student in the Academy program during the summers of 2021 and 2022. Now back with us, Aisha rekindled that affinity for the environment, from leading butterfly house tours to working on her AWE fellowship capstone centered around watershed education, regifting that knowledge and sparking the same curiosity in others. Water holds a special place in her heart too, from unforgettable stream science days at Academy to favorite afternoons along the D&R Canal trail and pond.

Thank You to our Summer Science Intern, Sunny Zhao! Studying Operations Research and Financial Engineering at Princeton ...
08/28/2026

Thank You to our Summer Science Intern, Sunny Zhao! Studying Operations Research and Financial Engineering at Princeton University, the Jericho, New York native joined us with a strong interest in data collection, visualization, and hands-on lab work, while getting a firsthand look at how a conservation organization sets goals and works together to reach them. She helped test Wargo Pond for Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) monitoring and prevention.

Thank you to our Summer Science Intern, Kelsey Campbell, from Eaton, Ohio! Studying Civil and Environmental Engineering ...
08/28/2026

Thank you to our Summer Science Intern, Kelsey Campbell, from Eaton, Ohio! Studying Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University, Kelsey came to the Watershed Institute hoping to understand water quality work from the ground up— from surface flow science to the policy changes it can inspire. Along the way, Kelsey has learned the full pipeline, from volunteer-collected data to Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) reporting to NJDEP, and says the experience has been amazingly fulfilling.

Thank you to our Summer Science Intern, Innocent Joseph, from Tanzania! Studying Mathematics at Princeton University, In...
08/28/2026

Thank you to our Summer Science Intern, Innocent Joseph, from Tanzania! Studying Mathematics at Princeton University, Innocent joined The Watershed Institute looking to gain hands-on experience while developing skills in research protocol development. Just as importantly, Innocent brings a mindset of creative and critical thinking to every problem, approaching challenges from new angles and always asking what's really going on beneath the surface.

Address

31 Titus Mill Road
Pennington, NJ
08534

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

(609)7373735

Website

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