This area is amazing! If you enjoy hiking you need to check this place out. It's a bit of an urban oasis.

Be an eco-tourist at the Meadowlands
By JANET FRANKSTON -- Associated Press --Wed, Oct. 11, 2006

New Jersey's Meadowlands conjures images of a football stadium, swamps, burning landfills, industrial wasteland and, perhaps, the final resting place of Jimmy Hoffa.

Not to be deterred, the state is trying to make the area less than five miles west of Manhattan into a destination for tree-hugging tourists.

The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission has released a 72-page color guide to bird watching and fishing in the Meadowlands and wildlife trails in the Hackensack River Watershed.

"The Meadowlands area is a hidden gem," Susan Bass Levin, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.

The Meadowlands is more than just the area around Giants Stadium and the adjacent arena and racetrack. Both the Hackensack River and New Jersey Turnpike bisect its 32 square miles, located west of the Hudson River directly across from Manhattan. Portions of 14 towns in Hudson and Bergen counties make up the Meadowlands district, including the towns of Secaucus, Rutherford, Teterboro and parts of Jersey City.

State officials are trying to promote "eco-tourism" here, the conservation-minded outdoor travel that is generally identified more with destinations such as Costa Rica or the Galapagos Islands.

Levin said the area described in the new guide is home to 26 endangered or threatened bird species.

Levin, who grew up in Bergen County, said she remembers driving through the Meadowlands as a child to get to her grandparents' house in Brooklyn. She recalls catching a whiff of what smelled like rotting trash.

"It had a particularly bad smell, and you certainly didn't want to go there. A lot has changed. The birds have come back and people have come back," she said.

The change first began with the federal Clean Water Act in 1972, and animals started to return in higher numbers about five years ago, she said.

Today, the Hackensack River is home to nearly 100 species of fish and shellfish and 200 bird species, including bald eagles that use the Meadowlands as a migratory stopover, according to the guide.

The Meadowlands Commission has been pushing "eco-tourism" in the area since 1994, when it began guided canoe and pontoon boat tours in the area. What started with two trips each in the spring and fall has turned into dozens of outings. In 2004, 657 people went along.

State officials hope more will come with the guide, which provides three different sections about trails in the Meadowlands.

"Meet at the Meadowlands" offers an overview. The other sections are geared to families with children and to more serious hikers.

The sections give ideas of what animals to see during each season, as well as suggestions about where to park and how to get there by public transportation.

The Meadowlands Commission paid for the guide, called "Birding and Wildlife Trails: Meadowlands and More," at a cost of $370,000, Levin said.

Katie Maschman, the membership and communications director for the International Ecotourism Society in Washington, D.C., said it's exciting to hear about eco-tourism in an unconventional area.

She wouldn't predict whether it would succeed, but added that, "based on industry experiences, making decisions on corporate, social responsibility and environmental responsibility does prove successful."

Levin said the commission plans to market the booklet to local and national audiences, pushing the area's proximity to Manhattan.
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Meadowlands Eco-Tourism: For information about birdwatching, hiking and other outdoor activities in the New Jersey Meadowlands, call 888-656-2473 or click on "eco-tourism" at www.meadowlands.state.nj.us.