Lake Tappan

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For the lake in Ohio, see Tappan Lake

Lake Tappan was formed by a dam placed on the Hackensack River in 1967. It straddles the border between River Vale and Old Tappan, New Jersey. It extends north past the New York state border and into Orangetown, New York.

The Lake Tappan reservoir covers 1,255 acres (5.1 km²) and contains 3.5 billion US gallons (13,000,000 m³) of water, with up to 12 million to 13 million US gallons (45,000 to 50,000 m³) released per day down stream to the Oradell Reservoir. Travel time for the passage of water can be as little as 2 to 3 hours.

On March 11, 2003 New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey visited the reservoir and proposed protecting it, Woodcliff Lake (a neighboring reservoir) and their tributaries with Category 1 water purity status. [1]

The reservoir is owned by United Water, a private utility.

Lake Tappan is a local fishing spot as well, serving as a habitat for bluegill, bass, perch, catfish and carp .

A group of bald eagles were regularly seen near Lake Tappan, mostly at the intersection of Quaspec Road and Convent Road in Blauvelt. The group consisted of six eagles, with three adult females, one adult male, and two younger male birds.

Lake Tappan was also the reported sighting of an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) in 1998. Numerous witnesses reported seeing an object shaped like a blimp rise up out of the woods adjacent to the Rockland Psychiatric Center, hover over Lake Tappan, and then move silently west towards Pearl River, flying directly over the Blue Hill Golf Course. The United States Army, which maintains a reserve center in nearby Orangeburg, has denied that it had any aircraft in the area that day. This was reported in the local newspaper the Our Town.^{[citation needed]}