The Meadowlands Environment Center is located just minutes of the New Jersey Turnpike in Lyndhurst and is a great way to see one of the least explored ecosystems in New Jersey. The wetlands is a marshy bog through which the Hackensack River flows.
The Environment Center has some small dioramas and displays in a building which are primarily used as classrooms. There is a walkway that extends through the marsh and over the water, allowing visitors to experience the wetlands in a way that is often not allowed.
What can you expect to see at the Meadowlands Environment Center?
On a recent trip, I snapped this photo of an egret. There were also plenty of ducks. It's not uncommon to see red-tailed hawks, red-winged blackbirds, and great blue herons. Salamanders, frogs, snakes, and turtles are common. Beavers, otters, raccoons, and muskrats also call the Meadowlands home. Butterflies and dragonflies are common in warmer months.
Wetlands are lands that are flooded for at least part of the time like swamps and bogs. Originally the wetlands was a cedar forest but early Dutch settlers cleared the forest and drained the land to create meadows of salt hay. Throughout my childhood, the Meadowlands was the site of landfills and was notorious for illegal dumping. The contaminated and abused land was cleaned up and protected by legislature and the Environment Center was built about 30 years ago.
Wetlands protect local areas by reducing storm water runoff and flooding as well as filtering pollutants from water sources. The New Jersey Meadowlands is a critical nesting site for waterfowl and other animals.
The William D. McDowell Observatory contains a 20 inch telescope and is open to the public on Wednesday evenings.
The Meadowlands Environment Center is run cooperatively by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and Ramapo College of New Jersey.
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