The Meadowlands holds a distinct place in the collective minds of New Jerseyans. But how much does the average resident really know about the iconic, lowlying tract?
For many, the Meadowlands conjures up images of football games, concerts, swamps, the New Jersey Turnpike and the lore that has Jimmy Hoffa’s burial site under the end zone. But there is much more to the historic area than is immediately apparent, according to Jim Wright, an author, blogger, photographer and member of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.
“I worked for the Meadowlands Commission for five years,” Wright said. “During my interview [for the job], I said I wanted to do a book. … They really liked [it] and were supportive of the idea.”
Wright, a resident of Allendale, Bergen County, spent the next half-decade gathering historical data, photos and firsthand experiences with the aim of publishing a coffeetable book about the area. He succeeded in compiling years of busy research into “The Nature of the Meadowlands.”
“The book is a celebration of the Meadowlands’ amazing environmental comeback. The place is unbelievable,” Wright said.
The author said the Meadowlands had already undergone several extraordinary transformations by the time New York City was being built nearby.
“There’s a lot of history in the book,” Wright said. “From the days when woolly mammoths were around, to when Native Americans lived here, up to when the settlers arrived.” The area that is now made up of swamps, landfills and meadows was at one time a robust forest of white cedar trees, he said.
“These trees grew up to 80 feet tall. They were spectacular,” Wright said. “But settlers found they were great for housing shingles and roofs. They also made plank roads out of them. It changed the whole landscape.”
As New York City burgeoned over the years, engineering firms and chemical and waste companies took a serious toll on the Meadowlands.
“I found a photo of this horrible Turnpike crash that involved 70 cars and was caused by a burning landfill. It took me a couple months to track down, but it was worth it,” Wright said.
However damaged and polluted parts of the Meadowlands may be, Wright said the site’s proximity to the many bustling areas nearby is as much a part of its identity as the swamps and meadows.
“You can’t believe how spectacular it is. You can see all the open spaces and all the densely packed suburbs right next door and New York City on the horizon. It’s just amazing to have this kind of open space right on New York’s doorstep,” he said.
In recent years, the Meadowlands has experienced a spike in endemic and migratory wildlife populations — a promising sign for an area whose rolling hills are actually camouflaged landfills, Wright said. With the help of two professional photographers, Wright was able to capture images of a host of these creatures flying, swimming, crawling and creeping through the area’s tall grasses.
“We keep hearing reports of coyotes in the area. I saw one cross the road once, but I couldn’t snap a photo in time,” Wright said.
Over the course of his five years in the thick of things in the Meadowlands, Wright said he was constantly finding new birds flocking in and out by the season, and more bugs than he could inventory.
That’s part of the appeal, he said.
“It’s always changing — the birds change, the weather changes, the trees are changing. In order to have an opinion, you need to know it for a while.”
The Meadowlands are changing in another, very positive way, Wright said.
“The Meadowlands are one of America’s great environmental success stories. A lot more work has to be done, but the [environmental] comeback it has made has been phenomenal.”
Wright will hold a presentation and book signing for “The Nature of the Meadowlands” at 7 p.m. May 14 at the East Brunswick Senior Center, 2 Jean Walling Civic Center, East Brunswick.
Contact Thomas Castles at [email protected].