Meadowlands

Only a few miles from New York City you will find one of the largest urban wetlands in the country. Known as the Meadowlands, this vast expanse of more than 8,000 acres is surrounded by cities and towns.

Only a few centuries ago, the majority of the Meadowlands was a fresh water cedar swamp. Over the years, the ecosystem changed as people tried to develop the land and control the water: by cutting down trees, building dikes and eventually constructing a dam on the Hackensack River.

In the 20th century, heavy industry and numerous landfills created a toxic environment in parts of the Meadowlands. Conditions became so bad that many people believed that the Meadowlands could not survive. While pollution is still an issue, this urban wetland is experiencing a dramatic transformation through the combined efforts of legislation, planning and open space preservation.

In 2004, the Meadowlands saw a major change in development attitudes. Following in the tradition of the Clean Water Act, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission made a break with past regulations and zoned 8,400 acres of wetlands for conservation. This has set in motion an effort to create an environmental preserve ten times the size of New York City's Central Park.

Today, more than 250 species of birds spend time in the Meadowlands -- a place many once considered to be a dead ecosystem because of all the pollution. Some endangered species in New Jersey are even breeding here and raising their young, like the Pied Billed Grebe, American Bittern and Northern Harrier. Boat tours and hiking trails give visitors the opportunity to explore this urban wilderness and see the successful changes for themselves.

New Jersey Meadowlands Commission Nest Box Project (4:44)
Gabrielle Bennett-Meany, an Outreach Naturalist at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, describes the Commission’s popular Nest Box program, where school children, scouts, and a variety of other community volunteers build nest boxes for use throughout the Meadowlands district. In March of 2005, NJN followed the Commission crew as they “plugged in” a brand new batch of nest boxes specifically built for Tree Swallows.

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