New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

in northeastern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, a few miles to the west of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In the 20th century, much of the Meadowlands area was urbanized, and it became known for being the site of large

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the wast ...

s and decades of environmental abuse. A variety of projects are underway to restore and conserve the remaining ecological resources in the Meadowlands.

Geography

The Meadowlands stretch mainly along the terminus of the Hackensack and

Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...

s as they flow into

Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, ...

; tributaries of the Hackensack include Mill Creek,

Berrys Creek Berry's Creek (sometimes referred to as ''Berrys Creek'' or ''Berry Creek'') is a tributary of the Hackensack River in the New Jersey Meadowlands in Bergen County, New Jersey. The creek watershed contains a diverse array of wetlands, marshes, and ...

, and

Overpeck Creek Overpeck Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River, approximately long, in Bergen County in northeastern New Jersey in the United States. The lower broad mouth of the creek is part of the extended tidal estuary of the lower Hackensack and of t ...

. The Meadowlands consist of roughly 8,400 acres (34 km²) of open, undeveloped space in addition to developed areas that had been part of the natural wetlands which were heavily developed by H. Bert Mack and M. Bolero in the 1960s.Orlando Sun Sentinel: "H. Bert Mack, Businessman, Philanthropist"
May 11, 1992 The area includes portions of Kearny,

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.North Arlington,

Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,Lyndhurst, Rutherford, East Rutherford, Carlstadt,

North Bergen North Bergen is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 63,361. The township was founded in 1843. It was much diminished in territory by ...

Moonachie Moonachie (; ) is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, in the Hackensack River watershed. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 2,708,Ridgefield, South Hackensack,

Teaneck Teaneck () is a township in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 39,776, reflecting an increase of 516 (+1.3%) f ...

, and Little Ferry.

History

The area was forested with Atlantic white cedar before the early Dutch settlers cleared the cedar forests and used dikes to drain the land. The Dutch farmers used the drained tidal lands to create "meadows" of

salt hay ''Sporobolus pumilus'', the saltmeadow cordgrass, also known as salt hay, is a species of cordgrass native to the Atlantic coast of the Americas, from Newfoundland south along the eastern United States to the Caribbean and north-eastern Mexico. I ...

; hence, the area was referred to by locals as the Meadows. In more recent times, the Meadowlands became known for being the site of large landfills and decades of environmental abuse.

Human impact

Before European settlement, the area consisted of several diverse ecosystems based on

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does incl ...

brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

, and

saltwater Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water, ...

environments. Large areas were covered by forests. Considered by residents of the area through the centuries as wastelands, the Meadowlands were systematically subject to various kinds of human intervention. The four major categories are: * ''Extraction of natural resources (including fish and game, as well as cedar logs).'' Farmers also harvested

for feed. Over time, the forest resources were totally depleted, dike systems broke down, farming ceased, and contamination by pollution increased. * ''Alteration of water flow.'' Drainage canals and especially the deepening of the Hackensack River for navigation have allowed salt water to enter the original fresh water and brackish water areas, altering the ecology and destroying the estuarine environment. * ''Reclamation, land making, and development.'' In addition to landfill from garbage, landmass generated from dredging was also used to create new land. Some material came from building the World Trade Center in nearby

, in the late 1960s. * ''Pollution by sewage, refuse, and hazardous waste.'' Various types of waste have been dumped legally and illegally in the Meadowlands. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, military refuse was dumped in the Meadowlands, including rubble from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

created by

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

and used as

ballast Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship ...

in returning ships. After the war, the Meadowlands continued to be used for civilian waste disposal, as the marshes were seen simply as wastelands that were not good for anything else.

was extensively polluted with mercury,

PCBs Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...

and other chemical wastes, and three adjacent industrial properties have been designated as

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency ...

sites. The opening of the

New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highways in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although maintained by NJTA, is not cons ...

in January 1952 only amplified the continuing environmental decline of the Meadowlands, as both spurs of the Turnpike travel through the region from the

to just past

. The

Meadowlands Sports Complex The Meadowlands Sports Complex is a sports complex located in East Rutherford, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The facility is owned and operated by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA). The complex currently con ...

, the site of multiple stadia and a racetrack, was built in the Meadowlands beginning in the 1960s. The race track was the first venue in the complex to open, on September 1, 1976.

New Jersey Meadowlands Commission

The location of the New Jersey Meadowlands near the center of the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

and its outgrowth into New Jersey makes

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

of the vast wetland a difficult proposition. In spite of this, the

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...

, led by Richard W. DeKorte, created the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission (since renamed New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and now known as the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority after being merged with that agency) in 1969 to attempt to address both economic and environmental issues concerning the wetland region. The commission was authorized to review and approve

land development Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing * Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpos ...

projects, manage landfill operations, and oversee

environmental restoration Environmental restoration is closely allied with (or perhaps sometimes used interchangeably with) ecological restoration or environmental remediation. In the U.S., remediation is the term used more in the realms of industry, public policy, and c ...

and

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

projects. The commission merged with the

New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) is an independent authority established by the State of New Jersey in 1971 to oversee the Meadowlands Sports Complex, but which now contains the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, a regulatory ...

in 2015.

Conservation efforts

Even under grave environmental circumstances, the Meadowlands contain many species of fish,

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapoda, decapods, ostracoda, seed shrimp, branchiopoda, branchiopods, argulidae, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopoda, isopods, barnacles, copepods, ...

s, and

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

s and are considered to be an important bird habitat. Congress has provided funds through the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon pro ...

to protect and preserve the Meadowlands and establish organizations to research the unique animals and their interaction with the ecosystem. The ecosystem is a fragile environment that waterfowl and other species of animals need. Richard W. DeKorte Park in the Meadowlands is known for

bird watching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

, particularly for migratory waterfowl.

References

External links

Meadowlands MuseumHackensack RiverkeeperNew Jersey Meadowlands Commission Master PlanMeadowlands Regional Chamber of CommerceMeadowlands Liberty Convention & Visitors BureauMeadowlands Environment CenterNew Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority websiteNew Jersey Meadowlands at National GeographicPhotos of Mill Creek Marsh, Meadowlands PreserveBeyond Passaic: Contamination, security threats, hobo encampments. A Meadowlands photo essay
* * {{Coord, 40.815888, -74.039612, format=dms, display=title Regions of New Jersey Meadowlands Meadowlands Wetlands of New Jersey Estuaries of New Jersey New Jersey Meadowlands District Hackensack River Passaic River fi:The Meadowlands