Environmental Commission

Leave the Leaves

Fallen leaves aren’t yard waste. They’re free fertilizer and winter shelter for the wildlife we want to keep around.

• They feed your lawn and gardens. As leaves break down they add nutrients, improve the soil and hold in moisture, so you need less fertilizer and less watering.
• They shelter wildlife through the winter. Moths, butterflies, bees, salamanders, toads and firefly larvae spend the winter in leaf litter. Those caterpillars are what most backyard birds feed their young in spring.
• They protect our lakes. Leaves blown or left in the street wash into the storm drains, and every storm drain in Mountain Lakes empties into our lakes, where decaying leaves add nutrients that feed algae blooms.
• Less work, less waste. Yard trimmings make up about 12% of all trash in the U.S. Leaves you keep on your property never need bagging, hauling or a leaf blower.

So this fall, skip the raking. Mow leaves into your lawn on the highest mower setting, leave them in your garden beds until a single clean-up in March, and never blow or dump them into the woods, pocket parks or the street. Borough rules also require leaves and grass clippings in the street to be bagged or contained.

Request a free yard sign Download the flyer

Join the Discussion

We take up local environmental issues as they come up, and we want residents involved. Here’s what’s on our radar right now. If there’s something else you think we should look at, tell us.

On our radar · updated November 2026

Get involved: come to one of our meetings (third Wednesday of the month, 7:30 PM on Zoom) or email us.

Dark Skies

Light pollution is outdoor light that goes where it isn’t needed: up into the sky, into a neighbor’s window, or on all night with no one around. It hides the stars, disrupts wildlife that depends on darkness, wastes energy, and can disturb our sleep.

Reducing light pollution is one of the commission’s goals for 2026. This year we brought Steve Mariconda of DarkSky New Jersey to the Mountain Lakes Library, worked with the school district on field and flagpole lighting, and started reviewing outdoor lighting around town.

A few easy steps at home:

• Use timers, motion sensors or dimmers so lights are on only when needed.
• Choose shielded fixtures that point down, and use warm-colored bulbs (3000K or lower).
• Turn off decorative and landscape lights at bedtime.

Impacts of Light Pollution flyer

Learn more: DarkSky New Jersey · DarkSky International outreach materials (a brochure, fact sheets and a home lighting checklist)

Environmental Resource Inventory

The ERI is an unbiased, objective report on all the environmental features and characteristics in Mountain Lakes. It integrates a variety of data from multiple sources to give the most comprehensive overview of natural and cultural resources, critical areas, existing development and infrastructure, as well as environmental challenges. The planning board, the zoning board and the commission use it when reviewing development proposals, and residents can use it to understand what’s around them.

It was updated in 2026 with the NJ Highlands Council (the last update was in 2012). Both are posted here so residents and boards can see how things have changed over the last decade.

Read the 2026 ERI Interactive ERI map

Previous edition: Environmental Resource Inventory, 2012 (PDF)

Quieter, Cleaner Yard Care

Gas-powered leaf blowers are among the loudest and dirtiest machines in town. California’s air regulators found that running a commercial gas leaf blower for one hour puts out as much smog-forming pollution as driving a new car about 1,100 miles. They’re also loud enough that the people running them need hearing protection, and the low drone carries across the neighborhood.

Battery-powered blowers and mowers are much quieter and give off no exhaust. And the more leaves you leave in place, the less you need a blower at all. If you hire a landscaper, ask whether they use battery equipment.

Rethinking your leaf blower

Cleaner Lakes and Stormwater

Every street catch basin in Mountain Lakes drains straight into our lakes. Whatever washes off our lawns, driveways and streets, including fertilizer, pet waste, leaves, oil and litter, ends up in the water we swim and boat in, and helps feed algae blooms. The borough works under a state stormwater permit, and residents make a big difference.

We work with the Lakes Management Advisory Committee to reduce stormwater runoff into the lakes, and we maintain and expand the Birchwood rain garden with student and Eagle Scout volunteers. The rain garden captures runoff from the beach parking area and lets it soak into the ground instead of flowing into the lake.

What you can do:

• Pick up after your pet and put the waste in the trash. Borough law requires it.
• Keep leaves and grass clippings out of the street. Mulch them into your lawn or bag them.
• Use organic, slow-release fertilizer, use less of it, and never fertilize within 20 feet of a lake or stream.
• Never dump anything into a storm drain. Only rain belongs there.

Anything that goes into a storm drain flows straight into our lakes, untreated. Leaves, pet waste, fertilizer and motor oil all end up in the water we swim and fish in. Our stormwater flyer lists five simple habits that keep them out.

Stormwater flyer Borough stormwater information

The borough’s stormwater page has the Municipal Stormwater Management Plan, the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, a map of the storm sewer outfalls and the related ordinances.

Healthy Lawns

A healthy lawn doesn’t need much help. Fertilizer and chemicals that wash off yards feed algae blooms in our lakes. A soil test, mowing high and leaving the clippings do most of the work. New Jersey law also limits when and where homeowners can fertilize. Our flyer has the tips and the rules on one page.

Healthy Lawns flyer

Community Clean-Up Day

Every April the Environmental Commission hosts a town-wide clean-up. Pick up gloves, bags and grabbers at the DPW, then clean a street, park or lakeshore near you. High school students can earn community service hours, and school teams clean up around the high school. Families, scout dens and neighbors are all welcome; most people are done in an hour or two.

About 70 volunteers joined us on April 25, 2026, and filled dozens of bags with litter that would otherwise have washed into the lakes with the next storm. Watch this page in March for next year’s date and sign-up.

Volunteer for Clean-Up Day