Watchung Reservation
| Watchung Reservation | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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Fall foliage along Watchung Reservation Sierra Trail
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 Location in New Jersey
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| Location | Union County, New Jersey |
| Nearest city | Summit and Mountainside |
| Coordinates | 40°41′11″N 74°22′24″W / 40.68639°N 74.37333°WCoordinates: 40°41′11″N 74°22′24″W / 40.68639°N 74.37333°W |
| Area | 1,945 acres (7.87 km2) |
| Elevation | 292 ft (89 m) |
| Governing body | Union County Parks Department |
Watchung Reservation is the largest nature reserve in Union County, New Jersey, United States. It is bounded by the city of Summit, the borough of Mountainside, and the townships of Berkeley Heights, Scotch Plains, and Springfield.
The reservation consists mainly of the upper valley of Blue Brook, between the ridges of First Watchung Mountain and Second Watchung Mountain. A dam near the headwaters of the creek creates Lake Surprise.
The Blue Brook has carved a valley in the Reservation between the 1st and 2nd Watchung Mountains along the strike of the less weathering-resistant red beds of the early Jurassic Feltville Formation.
The Feltville Formation is a mapped bedrock unit primarily in New Jersey named for the Deserted Village of Feltville in the Reservation, which is near where its type section was described.
Red sandstone and shale beds of this formation crop out along stream level and along an old, abandoned rail line that follows the north side of the stream. On the south side of the stream are exposures of a highly fractured flow of the base of the Orange Mountain Basalt.
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