Woodland Park received a new CASE CX160D excavator at the end of January, which will be utilized by both the Borough and the Township of Little Falls to de-silt and de-snag local waterways.

The NJDEP grant funded purchase will allow the Department of Public Works from the municipalities to perform clean-up operations as needed in the Peckman River and the tributaries of the Passaic River.

Rather than utilizing previously awarded funding for a one-time clean-up, the decision was made to rework a grant application to obtain the excavator so that regular preventative measures could be taken, according to Mayor Keith Kazmark.

“The excavator will enable both towns to perform river and stream cleaning in the long term, rather than a one-time fix,” he said. “This endeavor will allow for consistent, in-house river cleaning to help us mitigate flooding.”

Little Falls and Woodland Park will split excavator usage, as well as maintenance, through a shared-services agreement.