Muriel Hepner Park Trail Up for $345,000 County Grant

A new trail through the wetlands at Denville’s Muriel Hepner Park is in line for a $345,000 Morris County grant, one of 10 local trail projects recommended for funding this week.

The Morris County Trail Construction Grant Advisory Committee presented its 2026 recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners at a public work session in Morristown on Thursday, Nov. 12. The 10 projects total more than $2.2 million, and the commissioners are expected to vote on them at their public meeting on Nov. 23, 2026, according to the county’s announcement.

The Denville project, listed as Muriel Hepner Trail Expansion Phase 1, would build about 2,000 feet (0.38 miles) of trail through freshwater wetlands: 650 feet of boardwalk and 1,350 feet of gravel and stone dust. The committee’s presentation puts total construction at about $431,294, with Denville covering roughly $86,259 in matching funds. It is the first of two planned phases.

The park sits on Diamond Spring Road across from Valleyview Middle School. According to the township’s Muriel Hepner Park page, the plan is a more formal crushed stone trail around the rear pond, with ADA-compliant boardwalk replacing the handmade footbridges, many of them built as Eagle Scout projects. The township says construction could begin as soon as 2027 if the grant is approved.

Denville has drawn on the program before. The county’s presentation lists earlier township grants for the Muriel Hepner bridge (2016), two phases of the Den Brook Park trail (2019 and 2021) and two phases at Knuth Fields (2022 and 2024). For more on the park and its pond, see our guide to Denville’s lakes, parks and trails, and our recent look at Diamond Spring Road projects on the council agenda.

The other recommended projects are in Jefferson, Lincoln Park, Mendham Borough, Mendham Township, Morris Plains, Mount Arlington, Pequannock, Riverdale and Washington Township. If all are approved, program chair Betty Cass-Schmidt said, the county’s total investment in public trails will top $7.7 million.