Bloomfield’s Lion Gate Park is Now Open to the Public

Bloomfield Township held a ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the completion of a remarkable environmental restoration project and welcome the public to enjoy the new Lion Gate Park! 

The Lion Gate Park project is the culmination of nearly two decades of work. The once densely developed, flood-prone, former industrial site was transformed into a thriving public active recreation park and 4.2 acres of wetlands.

The restoration work brought back to the land valuable ecological functions and natural floodplain connection, enhanced aquatic and wildlife habitat, and increased flood storage capacity for urban stormwater runoff.

“Our ability to open this park is a testament to the hard work and advocacy of so many people in our community,” said Bloomfield Township Mayor Venezia.

Princeton Hydro served as the ecological engineer to Bloomfield Township for this important urban wetland creation project. Our scientists and engineers assisted in obtaining grants, collected background ecological data through field sampling and surveying, created a water budget, completed all necessary permitting, designed both the conceptual and final restoration plans, and conducted construction oversight throughout the project.

“We are so honored to work with Bloomfield Township on this urban restoration project. By removing a little over four acres of upland historic fill in this densely developed area and converting it to a functioning floodplain wetland, we’ve enhanced the ecological and flood storage value and provided outdoor recreation accessibility to the community of Bloomfield,” said Mark Gallagher, Vice President of Princeton Hydro. 

Enjoy the gallery of photos from the event below.

To learn more about the project and see drone images of it all coming together, click below: 

Bloomfield: Restoration Efforts Transforming Industrial Site Into Thriving Public Park

A densely developed, flood-prone, former industrial site in Bloomfield, New Jersey is being transformed into a thriving public park and 4.2 acres of wetlands. This is thanks to the Third River Floodplain Wetland Enhancement Project, which broke ground in March of 2019. The project will restore valuable ecological functions and natural floodplain connection, enhance aquatic…

• Natural Resource Management
• Wetland Restoration