SIGNIFICANT HABITATS AND HABITAT
COMPLEXES
OF THE NEW YORK BIGHT WATERSHED
Hackensack
Meadowlands
COMPLEX #19
List of Species of Special Emphasis
I. SITE NAME: Hackensack Meadowlands
II. SITE LOCATION: The Hackensack Meadowlands are located in northeastern New Jersey, approximately seven miles west of the borough of Manhattan, New York, and five miles north of Newark, New Jersey. The Meadowlands are in the lower Hackensack River drainage that flows into the northern end of Newark Bay.
TOWNS: Carlstadt, East Rutherford, Jersey City, Kearny, Little Ferry, Lyndhurst, Moonachie, North Arlington, North Bergen, Ridgefield, Rutherford, Secaucus, South Hackensack, Teterboro
COUNTIES: Bergen, Hudson
STATE: New Jersey
USGS 7.5 MIN QUADS: Central Park, NY-NJ (40073-78), Jersey City, NJ-NY (40074-61), Weehawken, NJ-NY (40074-71), Orange, NJ (40074-72)
USGS 30 x 60 MIN QUAD: Newark, NJ-NY (40074-E1)
III. BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION AND JUSTIFICATION: The Hackensack Meadowlands habitat complex includes the remaining tidal wetlands and adjacent palustrine wetlands and uplands along the lower Hackensack River north of Jersey City, New Jersey. The habitat complex is generally bounded by the Conrail railroad tracks and Route 17 to the west and south, the New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad tracks to the east, and Route 46 to the north; its northwest corner is bounded by the runways at Teterboro Airport. The complex also includes the aquatic habitat and adjacent upland habitat of Overpeck Creek, which feeds into the Hackensack River at the complex's northeastern end. This complex encompasses the remaining wetlands and open space habitats that support significant concentrations of waterfowl, wading birds, shorebirds, raptors, anadromous fish, and estuarine fish. This approximately 3,400-hectare (8,400-acre) wetland area is the largest remaining brackish wetland complex in the New York - New Jersey Harbor Estuary.
IV. OWNERSHIP/PROTECTION/RECOGNITION: Most of the habitat complex falls within the Hackensack Meadowlands District, in which growth is partly regulated by the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission (HMDC), a state land-use regulatory agency. Wetlands are regulated in New Jersey under the Freshwater Wetland Protection Act and Wetlands Act of 1970; these statutes are in addition to federal regulation under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, Section 404 of the Clean Water Act of 1977, and various Executive Orders. The majority of wetlands and uplands in this complex are privately owned. A special area management plan (SAMP) to facilitate the management and development of this area is being developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission, and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The June 1995 version of the SAMP allows for 341 hectares (842 acres) of direct wetland impacts (filling) and 492 hectares (1,217 acres) of indirect wetlands impacts. The SAMP's recommendations are based on the premise that additional development in wetlands is necessary to meet regional economic needs and to fund environmental improvements in the Hackensack Meadowlands and that comprehensive planning is the best way to achieve these goals. Publicly owned lands include the Sawmill Creek Wildlife Management Area owned and managed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the Richard DeKorte Park and Losen Slote Creek Park managed by the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission, and several town landfills and parks. Kearny Marsh is recognized by the New Jersey Natural Heritage Program as a Priority Site for Biodiversity with a biodiversity rank of B4 (moderate biodiversity significance).
V. GENERAL AREA DESCRIPTION: The Hackensack Meadowlands is a large wetland complex dominated by intertidal and intermittently flooded common reed (Phragmites australis) marshes and lesser areas of the following wetland types: shallow tidal bay/mudflat; low salt marsh dominated by low marsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora); remnant high salt marsh dominated by high marsh cordgrass (Spartina patens); brackish impoundments; freshwater impoundments; and remnant palustrine forest dominated by pin oak (Quercus palustris), red maple (Acer rubrum), and swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor). Grassland, shrubland, and early successional forest are the upland habitat types on the landfills, with small undeveloped uplands scattered around the edge of the Meadowlands.
The Hackensack Meadowlands drains an area of about 522 square kilometers (202 square miles) from the Hackensack River, Overpeck Creek, and direct runoff from the basin. The tidal range is 1.4 meters (4.7 feet) at the mouth of the river and 0.5 meters (1.7 feet) at the upstream limit of tide. The width of the Hackensack River ranges from 140 to 145 meters (900 to 1,500 feet) from the mouth of the river north. There are 5.6 kilometers (3.5 miles) of dredged, maintained, shipping channel 90 to 150 meters (300 to 500 feet) wide and 9.0 meters (30 feet) deep. From the town of Little Ferry to the town of Hackensack, there is a 3.3-meter (11-foot) deep navigation channel. The area between the dredged areas has a natural 6.5-meter (21-foot) average depth. A recent year-round sampling program recorded annual temperature ranges in the Hackensack River of 2.9 to 37°C (37 to 98.6°F) and an annual range of dissolved oxygen concentrations from 1.0 to 15.5 milligrams per liter. Salinity in the Hackensack River ranges from 0 to 16 parts per thousand; the reach of the river from the mouth upriver to Cromakill Creek is a moderate salinity (mesohaline) zone supporting both marine and estuarine invertebrates, fish, and turtles, while the reach of the river above Cromakill Creek to just upriver of Hackensack is a low salinity (oligohaline) zone supporting both estuarine and freshwater invertebrates, fish, and turtles.
The Hackensack Meadowlands are contained within the Northern Triassic Lowlands (Newark Basin) of the Piedmont physiographic province in northeastern New Jersey. The underlying bedrock is Triassic red shale and sandstone formed when sediments were deposited in the rift valley that occurred in this area 200 million years ago. The Hackensack River valley, in which the Meadowlands occur, is separated from the Passaic River valley to the west by a low ridge of sandstone, and is separated from the Hudson River to the east by a narrow ridge of igneous rock (Palisades diabase or traprock). A few outcroppings of traprock occur at Laurel Hill and Little Snake Hill in Secaucus. The elevations of wetlands in the Meadowlands range from sea level to about 3 meters (10 feet) above sea level, with bedrock outcrops at Laurel Hill rising to about 45 meters (150 feet) and several landfills rising to about 30 meters (100 feet). The formation of the Hackensack River wetlands commenced 8,000 to 10,000 years ago when the last glacial advance began to melt and retreat northward. The terminal moraine of the glacier created a large inland glacial lake (Glacial Lake Hackensack) that persisted for several thousand years. Peat and muck soils now overlay the lake sediments and glacial till.
It is extremely useful to understand the vegetational history of the Meadowlands in order to understand the changes that have taken place in recent and historical times and the potential goals for restoration. Pollen and peat samples from the Meadowlands indicate a sequence of vegetational communities following the draining of the Glacial Lake Hackensack from black ash (Fraxinus nigra) swamps, to northern bogs with larch (Larix larcinia) and black spruce (Picea mariana), to Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) swamps and, finally, to brackish marshes typified by threesquare bulrush (Scirpus americanus), black grass (Juncus gerardii), and narrow-leaved cattail (Typha angustifolia). By the time the first settlers arrived in this area in the 1600s, the Hackensack Meadowlands were predominantly a freshwater tidal river system, with Atlantic white cedar swamps occupying much of the wetland system and northern bogs occurring in other areas. Almost immediately after their arrival, the settlers began to change and control the hydrology of the Meadowlands -- first for agricultural purposes, then for industrial purposes and, in the early part of the 20th century, for mosquito and flood control. It was the mosquito control activities of diking, ditching, and tidegating, along with natural processes, especially sea level rise, that drastically altered the wetland diversity, leading eventually to the destruction of the cedar swamps and the concomitant invasion by common reed, which in many areas has become a dense monoculture. In 1922, a dam was constructed on the Hackensack River in Oradell, cutting off most of the freshwater flow to the Meadowlands and allowing brackish water to intrude further upriver. In recent decades, filling of wetlands in the area has reduced their extent from about 8,100 hectares (20,000 acres) to about 3,400 hectares (8,400 acres).
One of the priority habitat areas in the Meadowlands is the diverse tidal wetlands complex located on the western side of the Hackensack River in the southern part of the Meadowlands. This wetland complex consists of three sites: the Kingsland Impoundment, Kearny Marsh, and Sawmill Creek Wildlife Management Area. Large sections of the mosquito control dikes and tidegates were destroyed at the mouths of Sawmill and Kingsland Creeks in 1950, resulting in the flooding and reduction of common reed and allowing the establishment of large, nonvegetated mudflats and intertidal salt marsh dominated by low marsh cordgrass and common reed. Sawmill Creek, a wildlife management area managed by the state of New Jersey, is a 364-hectare (900-acre) brackish marsh consisting of open water interspersed with islands of low marsh cordgrass and common reed. The Kingsland Impoundment is a composite of one freshwater and four brackish impoundments managed by Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission; it totals about 283 hectares (700 acres) and includes fringing marshes in which the water level is controlled to maximize productive habitat for waterfowl, wading birds, and shorebirds. Kearny Marsh consists of approximately 162 hectares (400 acres) of predominantly freshwater, flooded, reed marsh with large areas of open water and smaller pockets of open water dominated by duckweed (Lemna spp.) and pondweeds (Potamogeton spp.). Forming the northwestern and western boundaries of this wetland system are two large sanitary landfills encompassing about 182 hectares (450 acres); slightly more than 8 hectares (20 acres) are still actively used. Most of the rest of the landfills are revegetating with grasses and forbs. The small mammal population occurring on the landfills and disturbed upland areas supports an abundance and diversity of hawks and owls throughout the year, especially in winter, and provides important migration and nesting habitat for a variety of passerine birds.
In the central and northern sections of the Meadowlands, open marsh is much less prominent, except for a large (approximately 32 hectares [80 acres]) wetland enhancement site between Mill Creek and Cromakill Creek. This site has a combination of exposed mudflats, intertidal salt marsh, and small islands that attract large numbers of shorebirds, wading birds, and waterfowl. Remnant high salt marshes (a total of about 70 hectares [175 acres]) dominated by high marsh cordgrass and/or salt grass (Distichlis spicata) are found in two locations: south of Berry's Creek between the Hackensack River and the New Jersey Turnpike western spur in Lyndhurst, and north and east of the Hackensack River and south of the Conrail tracks in Secaucus. In the rest of the Meadowlands, common reed is the dominant plant, often forming a vast, dense, and unbroken monoculture. There are two distinct types of reed marsh. The first type occurs in those areas that are still diked and tidegated with no regular tidal flooding except in tidal channels or during major storms. Here the reed has spread horizontally, eliminating most of the open water areas and also increasing the surface elevation through the deposition of organic matter. This change in elevation has resulted in the reduction of available aquatic habitat. The second type of reed habitat is the intertidal reed marshes that are flooded twice a day with the diurnal tides. Deterioration of tidegates and dikes currently allows tidal flow to enter these areas.
In the northeastern corner of the Meadowlands complex, Overpeck Creek feeds into the Meadowlands. On both sides of the creek there is extensive parkland containing a combination of small forested areas, common reed marshes, fields, and tidal flats. In two northern sections, a total of about 40 hectares (100 acres) of palustrine forest dominated by pin oak (Quercus palustris) can be found at Teterboro Airport and the headwaters of Losen Slote Creek in Little Ferry. These remnant woodlands are important for migrating songbirds moving through the metropolitan area.
VI. ECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE/UNIQUENESS OF SITE: The large remaining brackish marshes of the Hackensack Meadowlands are regionally significant, and support seasonal or year-round populations of 88 species of special emphasis or listed species, incorporating 29 species of fish and 55 species of birds, and including the following federally and state-listed species. (Living resources and their habitats are dynamic; therefore, the ecological significance and species information presented here may not be complete or up-to-date. State and federal environmental agencies [see Appendix III for office contacts] should be consulted for additional information.)
Federally listed endangered
peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Federal species of concern(1)
northern diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys t.
terrapin)
northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)
1Species of special concern listed here include former Category 2 candidates.
State-listed endangered
pied-billed grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)
Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
northern harrier (Circus cyaneus)
least tern (Sterna antillarum)
black skimmer (Rhynchops niger)
short-eared owl (Asio flammeus)
State-listed threatened
great blue heron (Ardea herodias)
yellow-crowned night-heron (Nycticorax violaceus)
long-eared owl (Asio otus)
savannah sparrow (Passerculcus sandwichensis)
Counts of waterfowl from midwinter aerial surveys over the Meadowlands average over 2,000 birds, including significant numbers of Canada goose (Branta canadensis), American black duck (Anas rubripes), mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), and canvasback (Athya valisneria), with lesser numbers of greater scaup (Athya marila), gadwall (Anas strepera), and American coot (Fulica americana). Green-winged teal (Anas crecca) have recently been noted as abundant in Mill Creek and Cromakill Creek and other small creeks during boat surveys in the fall and winter. Breeding waterfowl and waterbirds in the Meadowlands include Canada goose, mallard, American black duck, gadwall, green-winged teal, blue-winged teal (Anas discors), ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis), pied-billed grebe, American coot, common moorhen (Galinulla chloropsus), black-crowned night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), yellow-crowned night-heron, least bittern (Ixobyychus exilis), American bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus), and green heron (Butorides striatus). A few freshwater ponds that have formed on top of the landfills, totalling about 1.6 hectares (4 acres) have become important shorebird and waterfowl habitat, and are especially productive waterfowl habitat for gadwall; one pond had a count of 144 gadwall ducklings in 1990.
Small mammal populations occurring on the landfills and marshes support owls and hawks, including northern harrier, rough-legged hawk (Buteo lagopus), red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), American kestrel (Falco sparverius), short-eared owls, and long-eared owls throughout the year, and especially in winter. Primary prey for the owls are house mouse (Mus musculus) and meadow vole (Microtus pensylvanincus). A pair of northern harriers nests in the Meadowlands with a territory on Berry's Creek. Important roosting and feeding areas for raptors include Berry's Creek, Kearny Marsh, and Sawmill Creek.
The tidal mudflats and impoundments in the Meadowlands are important habitats for thousands of shorebirds, both in spring and fall migrations, and for wintering and summering waterfowl. The Kingsland freshwater and brackish impoundments managed by Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission are important waterfowl production and wintering areas. In July 1994, over 2,000 birds were counted, including Canada goose, gadwall, and mallard. Shorebird surveys conducted in the fall (July to November) during the period 1971 to 1980 at the Kingsland impoundment tidal flat totalled 31 species of shorebirds. The most abundant species were semipalmated sandpiper (Calidris pusilla), lesser yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), short-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus), and dunlin (Calidris alpina). Maximum daily counts of sandpipers exceeded 5,000 birds during most years. The Meadowlands is one of the most important sites in the region for shorebirds during fall migration.
Kearny Marsh recently supported several significant waterbird breeding populations including the largest breeding population of pied-billed grebes in New Jersey, the largest American coot breeding site in the state with an estimated 1,600 adult coot during 1978, and a large breeding population of least bittern with more than 35 adults in the 1970s and 1980s. Increased flooding and salinity in recent years has increased the amount of open water, reduced some of the food plants such as duckweed, and changed the avian species composition in this area. Common moorhen is now a common nesting species in the marsh. Kearny Marsh still supports a black-crowned night-heron heronry as well as roosting and feeding by herons, egrets, and ibises, especially during post-breeding dispersal periods in mid to late summer. Many of these birds likely come from the Harbor Herons Complex (see Arthur Kill narrative) 13 kilometers (8 miles) to the south, and possibly from North and South Brother Islands (see Narrows narrative) 19 kilometers (12 miles) to the east. The eastern part of Kearny Marsh (east of the New Jersey Turnpike) is heavily used as a feeding area by double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), herons, gulls, least tern, black skimmer, coots, moorhens, and pied-billed grebe, with nesting by coots, moorhens, grebes, mallard, gadwall, and marsh wren (Cistothorus palustris). Sawmill Wildlife Management Area supports significant numbers of migrating and overwintering waterfowl, especially northern pintail (Anas acuta) and canvasback, and shorebirds at low tide. Diamondback terrapin are common in the Wildlife Management Area.
The Hackensack River and the marshes in the Meadowlands regularly support 34 species of fish, and provide important nursery habitat for both anadromous and marine species. The Hackensack is a polluted tidal river with high sediment concentrations of contaminants and low levels of dissolved oxygen in the summer and so, not surprisingly, the dominant fish are the resident estuarine fish tolerant of fluctuations in salinity and water quality. The most abundant fish is the mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus), which makes up about 90% of the total fish caught in trawls and traps. Other common resident fish include striped killifish (Fundulus majalis), inland silverside (Menidia beryllina), Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia), white perch (Morone americana), brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus), white catfish (Ameiurus catus), carp (Cyprinus carpio), pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus), bay anchovy (Anchoa mitchilli), and the catadromous American eel (Anguilla rostrata). Anadromous fish using the Hackensack River and marshes in the spring include alewife (Alosa aestivalis), blueback herring (Alosa pseudoharengus), American shad (Alosa sapidissima), Atlantic tomcod (Microgadus tomcod), and striped bass (Morone saxatilis), and marine fish such as Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) and bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix). These species are absent or found in low numbers in the summer but return in the fall, along with weakfish (Cynoscion regalis) and winter flounder (Pleuronectes americana). Epibenthic invertebrate species (found on the surface of the sediment) include white-fingered mud crab (Rhithropanoepus harrisii), mysid shrimp (Neomysis americana), sand shrimp (Crangon septemspinosa), grass shrimp (Palaemonetes pugio), and several species of amphipods. Blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) is common in the lower reaches of the river. A total of 53 species of benthic infauna (invertebrates living in the sediment) were collected during a recent survey dominated by polychaetes (36%), mollusks (15%), and amphipods (11%).
Open space areas along Overpeck Creek, including Overpeck Park, provide important migratory stopover habitat for warblers, thrushes, and especially sparrows; the creek itself is important for waterfowl. The riparian corridor along the Hackensack River north of the Meadowlands and the watershed lands around the Oradell Reservoir and Lake Tappan, not included in this habitat complex, are important habitat for Neotropical migrant songbirds, wintering raptors, migratory waterfowl and waterbirds (see urban core chapter).
VII. THREATS AND SPECIAL PROBLEMS: The Hackensack Meadowlands area is situated in the heart of the urban, industrialized core of the New York Bight region. There continues to be significant pressure to fill additional areas, most of which are privately owned, for residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation uses in this already greatly fragmented wetlands habitat complex. Because of the historical losses of wetlands in this area as well as throughout the New York City metropolitan region, and because of the significant fish and wildlife resources found here, further losses of wetlands and open space in the Meadowlands would be expected to have an increasingly detrimental effect on fish and wildlife populations in the area. Although much of the wetland area in the Meadowlands is degraded and has a relatively low value for waterbirds, it still serves as important existing open space for migratory birds, functions as flood storage area, and retains the potential to be enhanced to more diverse and productive wetland habitat. Contamination from landfills and various other sites is common in the Meadowlands; over 200 sites have been the subject of state and/or federal regulatory action due to contamination. Leachate and air pollution from landfills continues to threaten the air and water quality of the Meadowlands and the region. Stormwater runoff and other nonpoint source pollution from the developed residential, commercial and industrial areas surrounding the Meadowlands contribute large amounts of nutrients, suspended solids, organic matter, and toxics to the system. The SAMP has documented 68 industrial discharges, 3 power generating plants, 7 sewage treatment plants, 32 combined sewer overflows, 12 emergency overflows and 16 landfills within the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission district. Due to the large amount of disturbance in the area, invasive species, especially common reed, are prevalent.
VIII. CONSERVATION RECOMMENDATIONS: Extensive historical filling, draining, and other adverse modifications have already occurred in this regionally important fish and wildlife habitat complex, and further degradation and loss of the habitat continue to occur from several sources, including landfill leachate, unremediated contaminated lands, and additional filling of wetlands for development. In order to afford the highest level of protection to these valuable remaining wetlands and aquatic habitats, which have been greatly reduced from their historical extent and acreage within the Meadowlands, additional filling of wetlands must be limited and contaminated sites remediated. Foremost is the need to develop and implement, with the direct input of the regional conservation community, a specific protection, restoration, and enhancement plan for the Meadowlands that focuses on wetland and other habitat restoration and management, and that seeks to limit any further wetland filling. In an effort to address these issues and develop a specific plan, the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Marine Fisheries Service/National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection drafted an environmental improvement program (EIP). The EIP contains many important recommendations on the remediation and restoration of contaminated lands, the improvement of water quality, and enhancement and management of wetlands and other habitats in the Meadowlands. Linked through funding and interagency cooperation to the EIP is the SAMP for the Meadowlands, also being prepared by the same interagency group, that focuses on pollution remediation, natural resource protection, and economic growth in the Meadowlands District. Both documents are potentially valuable planning tools for comprehensive management of the Meadowlands, including seeking alternatives to filling of wetlands. A programmatic environmental impact study (EIS) analysis of different land-use management scenarios and out-of-District alternatives is included.
It should be noted that, as of this writing, neither the SAMP nor the EIP have been finalized, nor have they been wholly accepted or endorsed by other federal agencies or conservation organizations outside of the aforementioned interagency group. This interagency group, with other partners, should continue to consider comprehensive planning, proper enforcement of the Clean Water Act, alternatives to filling wetlands, transfer of development rights within and outside of the Meadowlands District, acquisition of priority areas, and focusing new development towards previously developed but underutilized areas in order to limit additional filling of wetlands. This group should also seek funding not dependent on filling of additional wetlands in order to implement wetland restoration and other environmental improvements outlined in the EIP.
Restoration of degraded habitats in the Meadowlands should be given high priority. Given the extensive changes in hydrology, salinity, sea level, vegetational succession, and urbanization that have taken place in the past 100 to 150 years, however, it will not be possible to restore the Meadowlands to the diverse freshwater wetland system that existed here prior to colonial settlement. Restoring the entire Meadowlands to a salt marsh, for example, as some people have advocated, would not be true restoration, since salt marshes were never historically dominant in this system. In view of the small amount of vegetated open space remaining in the New York City metropolitan area and the importance of that open space to a variety of migratory and resident fish, wildlife, and plant populations, perhaps the most practical approach in the Meadowlands would be to maintain the maximum amount of open space by curtailing development to the extent possible and enhancing the existing open space, both common reed marshes and landfills, to maximize habitat diversity to include tidal wetland, palustrine wetland, and upland habitat. Possible enhancement projects include restoring reed marsh to low marsh, high marsh, and mudflats, especially along tidal creeks; creating additional open areas within reed marshes to increase the waterfowl and waterbird habitat (mimicking the productive marshes in Kearny Marsh); maintaining the impoundment at Kingsland for waterfowl, wading birds, and shorebirds; creating upland islands for nesting herons; maintaining and enhancing remnant upland and palustrine habitats, particularly at Teterboro, Woodlands, Losen Slote Creek, and Laurel Hill; and creating, enhancing, and maintaining grasslands, shrublands, forests, and ponds on capped and clean landfills.
The EIP contains other important clean-up, monitoring, public access, and education projects that should be implemented. Basin-wide monitoring of water quality should be continued and innovative strategies and best management practices used to reduce nonpoint source pollution. Landfills should be closed and remediated, including controlling the leachate, surface runoff, and gases created through the decomposition of solid waste. Contaminated sites should be cleaned up and reclaimed, with priority given to those sites supporting significant fish and wildlife resources. Flood control and stormwater management should be designed and implemented to enhance wetland habitats through properly functioning tidegates and restoring existing wetlands to create additional flood storage and habitat enhancement. There are many opportunities to increase appropriate public access, education, and appreciation of the area, focusing on the resources of the urban estuary. Migratory birds and fish should be monitored as indicators of habitat quality and productivity, and restoration strategies revised as appropriate. Enforcement should be heightened to prevent illegal dumping, filling, and hunting.
IX. REFERENCES:
Bosakowski, T. 1983. Density and roosting habits of northern harriers wintering in the Hackensack Meadowlands. New Jersey Audubon Society Records of New Jersey Birds 9(3):50-54.
Bosakowski, T. 1982. Food habits of wintering Asio owls in the Hackensack Meadowlands. New Jersey Audubon Society Records of New Jersey Birds 8(3):40-42.
Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission. 1994. Environmental improvement program, draft report for interagency review. Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission, Lyndhurst, NJ.
Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission. 1994. Special area management plan/draft environmental impact statement. September 6, 1994 draft by Camp, Dresser and McKee.
Harshberger, J.W. and V.G. Burns. 1919. The vegetation of the Hackensack Marsh: a typical American fen. Wagner Free Institute of Science 9:1-35.
Kane, R. 1978. Birds of the Kearny Marsh. New Jersey Audubon Society Records of New Jersey Birds 4(5):22-27.
Kane, R. 1983. Fall shorebird migration in the Hackensack Meadows 1971-1980. Occasional paper no. 141. New Jersey Audubon Society Records of New Jersey Birds 9(2):24-32.
Kane, R. and D. Githens. 1994. Hackensack River and tributaries greenway project. Draft report. New Jersey Audubon Society, Bernardsville, NJ.
Kraus, M.L. and A.B. Bragin. 1989. Inventory of fisheries resources of the Hackensack River within the jurisdictional boundary of the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission from Kearny, Hudson County to Ridgefield, Bergen County, New Jersey. Report submitted to Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission.
Sipple, W.S. 1971. The past and present flora and vegetation of the Hackensack Meadows. Bartonia 41: 4-56.
Smith, D. 1994. Hackensack Meadowlands. Draft habitat narrative for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service New York Bight Habitat Study. Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission Environment Center, Lyndhurst, NJ.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1995. Draft environmental impact statement on the special area management plan for the Hackensack Meadowlands District, New Jersey. U.S. Army Crops of Engineers, New York District and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II, New York, NY.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1994. Personal communication. New Jersey Field Office, Pleasantville, NJ.
Woodhead, Peter M. 1991. Inventory and characterization of habitat and fish resources, and assessment of information on toxic effects in the New York - New Jersey Harbor Estuary. A report to the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary Program, concerning work in Tasks 3.2, 5.1 and 5.3.
List of Species of Special Emphasis
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