Trout packed in plastic containers are loaded into a helicopter at Greenwood Lake Airport in West Milford in 1960 to be dropped into West Pond on state park property by the New Jersey Conservation Department. (File photo by Ann Genader)
Fishermen had plenty to be happy about in May 1960 when the New Jersey Conservation Department stocked West Pond with 1,000 brook trout.
This was an experimental project attempted for the first time in the state. The trout were loaded in plastic bags and flown to the lake in a helicopter equipped with pontoons.
The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) appears to have no record of this because the agency was not born until 10 years later during the first national Earth Day on April 22, 1970. At that time, New Jersey became the third state to consolidate its past programs into a unified agency to administer aggressive environmental protection and conservation efforts.
Before there was a DEP, the state Conservation Department oversaw game wardens from High Point to Cape May. The most well-known game warden in West Milford and the surrounding area was Garritt “Gary” Westerveldt.
He was controversial, loved by the environmentalists, and feared and avoided by those who did not accept fish and game laws. When he found law violators, he issued summonses to appear before municipal court judges, including T. Harry Cahill in West Milford, Uldric Fiore in Ringwood and Joseph Crescenti in Wanaque.
At that time, municipal court judges were not required to have a law degree. Cahill did not have one nor did Eric Arnold, the magistrate before him.
Fiore had a law degree, practiced law from an office in Ringwood and controlled his court like the strict rural schoolteacher he was earlier in Pennsylvania. He apparently had a dislike for gum chewing and would stop a court session, telling the chewer to stop chewing gum or leave the room.
Crescenti, killed in 1974 when a young shooter’s bullet came through a window as he conducted court, had studied law but not practiced it.
Deputy’s suggestion
Westerveldt brought game law violators to court before these judges. He had deputies, including Lee Itterly of West Milford, who suggested the experimental trout-stocking project.
In May 1960 the fish were loaded onto a helicopter at Greenwood Lake Airport and taken to West Lake. When the helicopter landed on the lake, the plastic bags were opened, and the fish were dumped into the water.
It was not only the first time that brook trout were dropped by helicopter but also the first time that a helicopter was used in stocking New Jersey waters. The roundtrip took just 20 minutes.
This was the first time that West Milford residents saw a helicopter land at Greenwood Lake Airport, which opened June 18, 1960.
Itterly, a West Milford resident, suggested the project, and his idea impressed Mayor George Egan, Township Committeeman Robert Little and Township Attorney Louis Wallisch Jr.
The state was contacted by Westervelt, and with the help of state fisheries biologist Dick Gross, much of the groundwork was done. The lake waters were studied, and arrangements were made to use a helicopter because of the lake’s location.
West Pond is a five-acre body of water between Greenwood Lake and Upper Greenwood Lake near Surprise Lake that Gross found to be suitable for brook trout because of the acidity, according to information available at the time.
The lake was said to be about 30 feet deep in its deepest part.
According to a report in the Paterson Evening News, sportswriter Jimmy Salvato said the best approach to the area was through the Appalachian Trail from the Upper Greenwood Lake and Papsco Road area. He estimated it would be about a 25-minute walk, with either end of the trail coming out at the New Jersey/New York state border near West Shore Boat Co.
Published report
“I watched the Hiller Aeroflex come in from the east on the new landing field as I talked to Fred Wehran, who originally made a landing strip out of a rough piece of mountain,” Salvato wrote. “Out stepped the hatchery boss, Bob Heyford, and Dan Rosenson, pilot. At the same time, the state hatchery truck pulled in with fingerling trout and Jules Marron, public relations head. They immediately set up transfer of the fish into the helicopter.
“Using plastic bags with a five-gallon water capacity, Marron put the trout in two of them, placed the bags in protective holders and loaded them into the copter. The takeoff was fast, and I pulled out my watch. Twenty minutes later, the copter returned with a job well done. Hayford’s first remark to me was ‘This is the way to stock. It’s easy with no loss of time.’
“Marron verified that it was the first time that any stocking was done by air and he said the department would no doubt be doing it more in the years to come,” Salvato continued.
Those involved in the experiment agreed that much could be done for stocking water bodies that are difficult to reach because of the geographical features. Fish could be taken from hatcheries directly to water bodies and valuable time would be saved.
Salvato reported that Gross told him the state was going to three or four more lakes in the Warren County area, using the same stocking plan with a helicopter. When he asked about stocking Surprise Lake, Gross said it was too small, and perch and pickerel were there already.
Charles E. Champanois Jr., president of the Greenwood Lake Airport, was mentioned by the state representatives as being a big help in accomplishing the project. Egan, with West Milford police escorts Sgt. James Kemble and Officer William Ohlmeyer, represented the township.
Information online says that while other states, particularly in mountainous regions, use helicopters for stocking remote lakes, there is no evidence that the DEP uses this method.
Fish are transported from the Pequest Trout Hatchery in Warren County to stocking locations with aerated tanks. When the stocking truck arrives at a water body, trained staff use nets to transfer the fish into the lake or stream. Staff toss the fish into the water, a practice that aerates them, energizes them and increases stocking efficiency.
To contact Ann Genader, send email to anngenader@gmail.com