The Meadowlands Commission is pleased to announce an official publication date of Oct. 15 for the coffee-table book “The Nature of the Meadowlands,” by the NJMC's own Jim Wright.
With a foreword by Governor Thomas H. Kean, the lavishly illustrated, 128-page book illuminates the region's natural and unnatural history — including its darkest days of a half-century ago and its inspiring environmental revival.
The book also celebrates the amazing landscapes and parks to be found here, including DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst, the Kearny Marsh and Laurel Hill in Secaucus.
In addition, The Nature of the Meadowlands features dozens of striking images, including present-day nature and landscape photography, pictures of an old Secaucus pig farm, a "Sopranos" landmark, a Harp Seal in Carlstadt, an Eastern Coyote on a Meadowlands landfill, and rare Laurel Hill minerals. In short, expect the unexpected.
“The Nature of the Meadowlands” is a great resource and beautiful keepsake — and the perfect gift for the upcoming holidays.
More information follows.
The author, Jim Wright, maintains the popular Meadowlands Nature Blog for the NJMC. He is also the birding columnist for The Record and author of three other coffee-table books — Jungle of the Maya, Hawk Mountain, and In the Presence of Nature.
Principal photography was done by Wright and North Jersey nature photographers Ron Shields and Marco van Brabant.
Additional images were taken or provided by Herb Houghton, Sanford M. Sorkin, Secaucus Historian Dan McDonough, Dennis Cheeseman, Regina Geoghan, Mike Girone, Michael C. Malzone, the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute, the Smithsonian Institution, Newark Art Museum, New-York Historical Society, Montclair Art Museum, Jeff Nicol, Greg Miller, Thomas F. Yezerski and Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Frank W. Zabransky and the Little Ferry Historical Society, The Associated Press, Kenneth Matteo of Central Jersey Pheasants Forever, Stephen D. McNamara of the Dawson Corporation, Harvey Sullivan IV, MacKenzie Hall of CWF, the late John R. Quinn, Jack R. Troy, Brent Thorne, and the Meadowlands Museum.