As part of NJMC's 40th anniversary, we are planning to produce a new trail guide to DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst. Among some proposed changes:
We plan to list the mileage for each leg of each of the trails so that walkers can easily calculate how far they've gone.
We will provide names for all the tidal impoundments.
And we are hoping to add a grid or some other sort of marking system to the trailmap so that if someone sees a rare bird or anything else of interest, they'll be able to give the coordinates and it will be easier for others to look for.
Do you have any thoughts on how we can make the map better? E-mail us.
For a larger look at what the current guide map looks like, click "Continue reading ... " immediately below.
The Meadowlands Environment Center will present a special
environmental film series on Sunday, Nov. 2, at 1 p.m., including a documnatry on the Meadowlands. Admission is free.
The films are part of the collection of the Black Maria
Film Festival’s Global Insight series, which features extraordinary works from
independent filmmakers that deal with environmental issues.
The project is part
of the Edison Media Arts Consortium, which has its roots with the Thomas A.
Edison National Historic Site in West Orange and is based at the Department of
Media Arts at New
Jersey City
University.
Click "Continue reading..." below for more information.
Seventh- and eighth-graders from the Belleville Middle School's Science Club took aquatic samples at the tidal impoundment at DeKorte Park last week, and came up with a pipefish, grass shrimp, and killifish. We photographed the critters in the NJMC Center for Environmental and Scientific Education, where MEC educator Joe Sarnoski talked about the critters and the center's resident diamondback terrapins, including the 25-year-old Stinky.
Click "Continue reading..." for more photos and info on what the students netted.
The Meadowlands Commission is calling on local amateur photographers to “Show Us Your
Meadowlands” in a 2008 photo contest.
Photographers can submit their images in three categories: Meadowlands economy,
Meadowlands community and Meadowlands environment. Photographers can enter up to
three black and white or color photographs for each category, as long as the prints
are received by 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 3.
Click "Continue reading to download the contest rules and entry form.
Through its educational arm, the Meadowlands Environment Center, the NJMC has an extensive outreach program that connects area students with the natural world. Last week, for example, seventh- and eighth-graders from the Belleville Middle School's Science Club learned how -- and why -- Meadowlands Commission naturalists are banding birds in North Arlington.
Saturday was the first Saturday public guided walk at Harrier Meadow in North Arlington. Although the forecast called for showers, the 10 people joined us for the walk were rewarded with great views of Northern Harriers and some good looks at four other raptor species and seven species of waterfowl -- many in abundance.
Click "Continue reading..." below for the full list.
This week Meadowlands Commission naturalists banded 295 birds in North Arlington, including 27 Ruby-crowned Kingletsand 107 Savannah Sparrows -- a threatened species in New Jersey and a bird we
at the Meadowlands Commission are especially interested in.
We have been getting all sports of Kestrels, Redtails, Ospreys and Harriers along Disposal Road, but the guy in the photo above took us by surprise the other day. We were at the beginning of the Saw Mill Creek Trail when this guy flew past, within 20 feet of us. He flew down the trail and landed on a rock by the tidal impoundment on the right. He is an accipiter, we figure, but need help. He (she) was fairly large. Any suggestions?
That migrating Peregrne Falcon that was headed in our direction a week ago instead took a route to the east, flying over water to miss the metro area and later flying over the ocean again to take the shortest route south. The falcon is now in the Florida Keys. Read more here.
