(1970 Map of Hackensack Meadowlands)

Fairleigh Dickinson University, in conjunction with the Meadowlands Commission’s Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute, has posted a treasure trove of 346 Meadowlands region-related maps, documents and other archival information on its website.

To access the digitized documents, which date back to 1916, click here and scroll down to Hackensack Meadowlands Papers. The documents are in PDF format.

Information on the site includes:

• Assessment, aerial, zoning and topographical maps of Meadowlands municipalities and the region’s waterways
• NJMC Annual Reports, including the Commission’s first report from 1969
• Numerous economic, scientific, engineering and environmental reports and studies

These are just a few of the highlights from the hundreds of remarkable historical documents available. Happy reading!

Last September, on a guided walk at DeKorte Park, Julie McCall found the caterpillar in the photo above.

On this blog, we asked readers for their help in ID-ing it. One reader suggested it was an Eastern Tent Caterpillar. Patrick Carney suggested Fall Webworm Caterpillar.

We then e-mailed butterfliesandmoths.org to see what they thought  — and then forgot all about it. This week we finally heard back:

Thank you again for your submission of Record 927588 to the Butterflies and Moths of North America database on September 3, 2014. Your sighting has been accepted, and your regional coordinator has verified your submission as _Hyphantria cunea_.  

(Probably better  known as Fall Webworm Caterpillar. Thanks, Patrick!)

For those looking ahead to warmer days and nights, a link to the group’s home page is here.

Link to the sighting record of our caterpillar on the group’s website is here.

The link to the original blog post is here.