Field Trip Excursion

Field trips at the SER Mid-Atlantic Conference are one of the many ways to take advantage of your time here in the Meadowlands with your fellow restoration practitioners! The excursion allows you to get up close and personal with restoration projects and explore the beauty of the region.

A box lunch and round-trip shuttle service to the sites will be provided. Please wear appropriate field gear, bring bug spray and sunscreen, and bring plenty of water. The field trip will be a 6 to 7-hour event. The field trip will leave from the Courtyard at Marriott at 1 Polito Drive, Lyndhurst, NJ.

*Please note that the Staten Island, NY field trip has been cancelled and only the Northern NJ field trip is being offered. 

A description of the field trip is provided below.

 

NORTHERN NJ

7:30 am – 2:00 pm

Hackensack River Tour

Come join us for an incredible 2-hour journey on the Hackensack River and through the swamps of Jersey to find out about past, current and future restoration work in the Meadowlands and check out the amazing wildlife and views along the way.

Travelling on one of our three comfortable pontoon boats, we’ll take off early from River Barge Park, Carlstadt, to try to capture some of the best avian foraging areas in the region, Sawmill Creek Wildlife Management Area, before high tide rolls in.

We’ll then head downriver towards Lincoln Park to check out the restored park in Jersey City, passing by the on-going work on the regionally important Portal Bridge reconstruction and Riverbend Marsh, one of the last marshes in the region supporting breeding Saltmarsh Sparrows.

We’ll then head upriver toward the City of Hackensack, heading into the marshes of the restored Mill Creek Marsh in Secaucus, and further upriver passing the ruins of former docks, landings and boats that provide us a reminder of the Hackensack River’s past.

 

Teaneck Creek Park

We’ll travel 20 minutes from River Barge Park to Teaneck Creek Park to check out the recently reopened site of a successful 2-year, 20-acre project that restored emergent and forested wetlands in the Teaneck Creek section of Bergen County’s Overpeck Creek Park. What were slated to become a dump 70 years ago are now some of the highest functioning freshwater wetlands in New Jersey!

Representatives from Biohabitats and Bergen County Park’s will lead a tour of this urban jewel, telling us how they were able to transform the site into functioning wetland complexes that manage stormwater, improve habitat, and connect the community to nature. Regenerative stormwater conveyance (RSC) practices were used to repair the eroded stormwater flow paths and safely convey stormwater to the site’s low-lying areas, and now the RSCs, wetland pools, and seepage berms treat the stormwater runoff and manage peak flows, while improving water quality through physical, chemical, and biological processes.

 

Erie Landfill

Before calling it a day, we’ll drive back down to the Meadowlands and hike up to the top of Erie Landfill to check out the amazing views of NYC and the environs while witnessing an on-going grassland restoration. The landfill has been closed for over two decades, and is largely dominated by invasive species. Efforts to create a native grassland began last fall and will continue over the next three years.