On summer weekends and major holidays, a security guard is stationed at the entrance to Green Pond village to prevent unauthorized access to the beach areas.

Green Pond is a spring-fed glacial lake (elevation 1,048 feet (319 m)) that runs along a roughly northeast-southwest axis, bordered on the longer, lateral sides by rocky terrain.

The lake's outflow at the southwestern end is into tributaries of the Rockaway River, which run through the United States Army's Picatinny Arsenal and through an area of legally designated wetlands where development is restricted.

[4] The lake is situated in the center of the precambrian New York-New Jersey Highlands, a northeast-southwest system of folded and faulted igneous and metamorphic rocks that form numerous ridges and valleys.

The name "Copperas" (an older term for ferrous sulfate) attests to this history, and the ruins of at least 3 mines are reportedly visible nearby:[5] Before Dutch settlement of northern New Jersey began in the late 17th century, the region was home to the Lenape Native American tribes.

However, due to pressure from rising real estate costs in the New York City suburbs, these holiday cottages are gradually giving way to year-round dwellings with central heating.

Historical records indicate that progressive damage to the pipeline was caused by a series of events that led to oil from the tanks seeping into the underlying groundwater and flowing into the river.

The site has since officially been reported demobilized and contaminated soil was prevented from entering the Pequannock River due to the installation of Erosion Control Fencing because of the Green Pond Oil Spill Revegetation/Restoration Project conducted by the EPA.