Eco-Jersey
This may sound a bit ridiculous coming from an Oregonian, but among the many highlights of our East Coast trip that winds up today has been eco-tourism in New Jersey. Paddling around Great Egg Harbor near Atlantic City in kayaks, and walking the boardwalks of the Hackensack Meadowlands near New York City, we encountered all sorts of beautiful critters in the salt and fresh water marshes. And quite a few people with a keen interest in protecting and enhancing what's left of a once-grand wildlife habitat.
The birdwatchers are in heaven in these places, but drag a net across the shallows of the bay and a surprising variety of fish species will also turn up. We missed the diamondback terrapin this time around, but we did get up close and personal with egrets, herons, osprey, and all sorts of denizens of the deep, including some impressive-sized horseshoe crabs and some feisty Jersey blue crabs. In the northern wetlands, we were joined by several types of butterflies -- the aficionados counted several dozen varieties on an organized field day on Sunday.
Granted, it's not paradise. Particularly in the Hackensack area -- the swamps are surrounded by closed landfills, both legal and illegal, that are full of heaven knows what. Sure, they're "capped," "remediated," and covered up to look natural, but those of us who were around there 50 years ago know what went on. What's great, though, is that the ongoing damage has been stopped, even reversed a little, and now the area's residents are taking care to see that it isn't repeated.
We must admit, we never expected to fly out of Newark with memories of the birds and the bees. But we do. Way to go, New Jersey.
| Posted at 3:25 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (6)
The logic of nature will always trump human engineering. Keep our open drinking water reservoirs as they are today and manage them responsibly. No added Bull Run treatment...period.
Posted by Old Shep | July 27, 2010 4:17 PM
Horseshoe crabs washed up on Folly Beach, SC when I was a kid used to give me the heeby-jeebies. Oh, what I would give for a trip to that area to reconnect with my youth.
Posted by none | July 27, 2010 4:42 PM
There is sooooo much that is polluted in Jersey, but the mess might be announced as 'Turned Around' if/when they re-establish truck farms to put the 'garden' back in Garden State.
... and lose Fort Dix, then get the spent lead out of The Pines in the southern reaches.
Here's hoping.
.
Posted by Tenskwatawa | July 27, 2010 6:53 PM
It reminds me of that wonderful nature poem by Henry David Thoreau:
"Dead gangsters buried in barrels of lye, are New Jersey flowers by June or July."
Posted by Bill McDonald | July 27, 2010 8:28 PM
I suspect the COP and TriMet would like to know when your/their vacation ends.
Posted by Abe | July 27, 2010 10:12 PM
We west-coasters tend to make a lot of arrogant jokes about places like New Jersey, mostly based on things like television shows that feed our preconcieved stereotypes.
But the truth is, that places like New Jersey do have special, lovely areas. I understand that South Jersey in particular has some places that seem unspoiled and remote (well, at least as remote as places in Jersey can be). I've heard that the Pine Barrens are particularly lovely, as well as the areas along the Delaware River in the north.
I came from the generation of Oregonians who smugly said "Don't Californicate Oregon" ... but as time went on and I finally got a chance to see California, which is an awesome place with awesome people. No, it's not perfect, and Oregon's home, but how can a state with things like Yosemite not be awesome?
I still reserve the right to be a little smug about my hometown and home state ... after all, I have to have some homeside pride.
Posted by Samuel John Klein | July 27, 2010 11:19 PM