Experience it all... Mill Creek Canoe Guide in the canoe Meadowlands

The Commission Offers: t Pontoon boat cruises and t Environmental remediation guided canoe tours and enhancement projects

t Children’s programs, t Films, book talks, concerts and including our annual Halloween other public events Party and Spooky Walk t Grants, professional help and t School science programs other direct municipal assistance that meet NJ core curriculum to help offset property taxes standards

t t Guided birding walks, Scientific research through talks and bird-banding MERI, the Meadowlands demonstrations Environmental Research Institute

t The Flyway Gallery, featuring t MERI Science Library, open to

local environmental artists the public The Meadowlands Experience

t Meadowlands Environment t Free trail guides, birding books Center’s interactive educational and other pamphlets displays t Green building guides, t Thousands of acres preserved, assistance and existing examples eight miles of trails, 21 area parks t Public viewing nights and t Millions invested in major astronomy classes at the William flood plain management D. McDowell Observatory projects

About the NJMC: The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission is the zoning and regulatory agency for the 30.4-square-mile Meadowlands District, composed of parts of 14 municipalities in Bergen and Hudson counties. Created in 1969, the NJMC has fought to end illegal dumping, encourage appropriate development, and protect the remaining open space and wetlands. The NJMC has helped preserve New Jersey thousands of acres and helped create eight miles of trails and 21 parks in the District, and also conducts Meadowlands Commission bird walks, canoe tours and popular pontoon boat One DeKorte Park Plaza • Lyndhurst, New Jersey • 07071 cruises on the . (201) 460-1700 www.njmeadowlands.gov New Jersey About the NJMC’s nature programming: In collaboration with the Bergen County Audubon Meadowlands Commission Society, the NJMC offers free twice monthly bird Meadowlands Environment Center walks as well as other nature walks and additional Two DeKorte Park Plaza • Lyndhurst, New Jersey • 07071 special events. For the schedule click the “Events” (201) 460-8300 button at njmeadowlands.gov. www.njmeadowlands.gov/ec About the NJMC’s Nature Blog: The Meadowlands Nature Blog – meadowblog.net – helps the public keep up with events and nature news in the region, J featuring daily updates and great photography.

Come and explore the New Jersey Meadowlands!

the remains of Atlantic tunnel through the reeds White Cedar trees and build huts on the that once forested the banks. In the background, Meadowlands. you can hear the muted rush of traffic on the More than 270 bird eastern spur of the New species have been Jersey Turnpike. That reported in the sound and the view of the Meadowlands, making New York City skyline in this a major stop along the background provide a the Atlantic Flyway. striking contrast between Black Skimmer Within the Mill Creek the area’s human you are paddling to avoid Marsh, Green-winged Teal development and its becoming stranded on a frequently congregate preserved open space. mudflat. in open water and Swallow Canoeing in Mill Creek, Secaucus use phragmites as a along shorelines, and Be advised, the tide will NOTE: High and low barrier from cold winter Black-crowned Night impact what you see tides occur roughly six T he New Jersey once home to a saw mill, in winds. The return of Herons, a threatened -- and where you can hours apart. For daily tide Meadowlands Commission the mid 1800s, and more spring is heralded by species in New Jersey, go -- in the Mill Creek information visit www. acquired the 207-acre recently a restaurant called Tree Swallows seeking nest in the taller trees. Marsh. At low tide broad saltwatertides.com and in 1996 Tony’s Old Mill, which homes in nest boxes mudflats are exposed, click on “tides” and then and began wetlands closed its doors in 1986. built by the NJMC and You can also find Fiddler providing great looks at “New Jersey.” Scroll down enhancement activities Today, Mill Creek Point Park volunteer groups. In the Crabs digging in the wildlife; at high tide you to Hackensack River and at the site two years later. features engraved signs, a summer, Double-crested mud along the riverbank can explore more of the check “North Secaucus, This work included re- riverfront walkway, picnic Cormorants perch atop and Diamond-back marsh’s waterways. See Garretts Reach,” then jump establishing tidal flows and tables, benches and a boat the remains of docks and Terrapins soaking up sun information at right for to the bottom and enter the grading to create open launch for canoes, kayaks old tide gates. Herons, in the shallows. Above tide specifics and keep date and time you plan to water impoundments and other small watercraft. egrets and terns feed the waterline, Muskrats an eye on the time when travel. and low, high and upland marsh areas. The South of the park is Greater Yellowlegs Double-crested Cormorant Great Egret Commission also added the Secaucus Wetlands native plantings to attract Enhancement Site, where a diversity of aquatic life, an elevated boardwalk birds and other animals. provides students from nearby Secaucus High The gateway to the creek is School and other visitors a marked by Mill Creek Point unique view of a restored Park, a 5-acre public space urban wetland. At the built by the NJMC and opposite end of the marsh maintained by the Town is the Mill Creek Marsh of Secaucus. The site was Trail, where you can see Canoe Trail - 1-1/2 miles one way Canoe Trail - high tide access only, 1 mile one way Mill Creek Point Canoe Trail Walking Trail - 1-1/2 mile loop, handicap accessible

Mill Creek Point Park Once the site of a sawmill Tree Swallow Nest Boxes Along the north side of the marsh, watch 1 and more recently a restaurant called Tony’s Old 2 for metallic blue tree swallows perching on wooden nest boxes. A favorite Mill, the land is now a public park with a launch for of photographers and a natural predator for mosquito-like midges, this 5 ½ inch canoes and kayaks, and areas for viewing wildlife and long bird makes its home in holes and nests already made by other animals for catch-and-release fishing. 74°2’34.259”W 40°48’19.24”N inside driftwood and dead trees. With the help of volunteer groups, the NJMC builds and installs hundreds of nest boxes each spring to boost the housing supply for these birds. 74°2’33.988”W 40°48’13.252”N Tide Gate In the 3 early 1900s, the Hudson County Mosquito Extermination Committee was formed out of fears that mosquitoes would spread malaria to populated areas. Dikes, ditches and tide gates were built throughout NJ Turnpike Eastern Spur the Meadowlands Osprey in an attempt to dry Nesting Platform out the marshes and eradicate the insects. Approximately 18,000 acres of marsh was drained in the region during this time. 74°2’27.46”W 40°48’6.887”N

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/ O New York City p 4 e Least Tern A spur of the New NJMC Native Replanting 8 n W Island Jersey Turnpike, 8 As part of wetlands a t enhancement activities beginning e between Exits 16W r and 18W, rises over in 1998, the NJMC helped to North Impoundment the eastern side of the increase the number of bird marsh. Five miles in the and wildlife species visiting and distance, the Empire breeding in the Mill Creek Marsh State Building and by creating upland areas and Midtown Manhattan open water channels. The NJMC 9 skyline can be seen. also replanted native vegetation South 74°2’28.182”W 40°48’6.887”N like spartina alterniflora, sumac, groundsel tree, hibiscus, marsh Harmon Meadow Impoundment 6 elder, and cedar trees. Thousands Plaza A number of of Green-winged Teal – the area’s commercial buildings can smallest waterfowl – can now be Habitat be seen to the south of the seen in the marsh each winter. Island marsh, including hotels, 74°2’40.585”W 40°47’55.378”N 10 restaurants, retail stores, and the Meadowlands Convention Center, demonstrating the close proximity in which man and nature coexist in the Meadowlands. 74°2’33.628”W 40°47’57.544”N Spartina 12 5 Alterniflora 11 Walking Trail Entrance On the eastern section

of the marsh, note Mill Creek Marsh Trail The marsh ends near a the proliferation of 12 walking trail, accessible by a muddy journey the saltwater-loving out of the water, or by dry trail from behind the Mill grass called spartina Creek Mall. Several wooden footbridges on the trail alterniflora. This grass Residential Homes allow a view of the remains of colonial-era Atlantic is a superb example Black-crowned 9 11 A number of Secaucus White Cedar forests. In the mid-1700s, many of these of adaptation, since it Night Heron residents live along the 90-foot tall trees were burned to eliminate hiding survives by excreting As the creek bends, Mill Creek Marsh and the places for pirates and bandits, according to legend. salts from special glands scan the trees on Early settlers also used the decay-resistant wood Phragmites Hackensack River. Many in its leaves. the eastern shore for to construct canoes, barrels, furniture, homes and 7 The western shore of construct porches and docks 74°2’32.047”W 40°48’0.56”N Black-crowned Night roads, like Paterson Plank Road, a 15-mile wooden the marsh is dominated by to enjoy the recreational Herons, one of New road that once stretched from Paterson to Hoboken. phragmites australis, also opportunities the creek Jersey’s threatened The forests were completely lost when the Oradell called the “common reed“ provides. species. Dam was constructed, blocking the Hackensack or “phrag.” This species 74°2’47.365”W 74°2’56.361”W 40°47’52.239”N River’s flow and allowing for an influx of salt water derives its name from the 40°47’56.175”N from the Newark Bay. Today, only the stumps of the Greek word for “fence,” and cedar trees remain. 74°3’1.788”W 40°47’45.563”N spreads as much as 30 feet Secaucus Municipal Utilities Authority each year by ground-level 10 The Authority is responsible for the treatment of roots called rhizomes. much of the wastewater generated within the Town of NJMC Web sites: Phrag can grow up to 15 Secaucus. 74°2’50.185”W 40°47’54.349”N Our home page: njmeadowlands.gov feet tall. Our research arm: meri.njmeadowlands.gov 74°2’38.465”W 40°47’57.385”N Our nature blog: meadowblog.net Our history blog: meadowpast.net

New Jersey Meadowlands Commission One DeKorte Park Plaza t Lyndhurst, NJ t 07071 t 201-460-1700 t www.njmeadowlands.gov