University students’ visions of the conceptual transformation of a former trash transfer facility into an aviation museum are the subject of a new exhibit at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission’s (NJMC) Flyway Gallery.

The show, “NJIT Design Studio,” will be on display from Thursday, March 6, through Friday, April 25. An opening reception is scheduled for Friday, March 7, from 2 to 4 p.m.

At the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, students in Professor Ira Smith’s Architecture Studio course were tasked with outlining a theoretical new use for the former Bergen County Utilities Authority Transfer Station and its surrounding grounds in North Arlington.

The academic exercise focused on repurposing the site into the New Jersey Air and Space Center, an expansion of the New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum, which is currently located in Teterboro. Continue reading →

Snowy Owls are still being seen in DeKorte Park and along nearby Disposal Road, including one this morning.

Owls in the park are sometimes seen along the Marsh Discovery Trail near the Transco Trail, and occasionally on top of  the transmission towers where the Saw Mill Creek Trail meets the Lyndhurst nature Reserve Trail. Morning and late afternoon are preferrable. (Sorry about the potholes; rough winter.)

Snowy Owls can also be seen from Disposal Road, on the Kingsland Landfill, occasionally perched on a pipe, like the distant one pictured above did last week.

Good luck!

(Please do not trespass on the landfill, and please do not disturb any owls.)

As part of the Meadowlands Commission’s 40th anniversary five years ago, my colleague Brian Aberback spearheaded an Oral History Project.

The project featured interviews with many folks who grew up in the Meadowlands or were witness to a part of its long and checkered history. They were kind enough to share their memories with us.

First up next Tuesday: Richard P. Kane (for whom the Richard P. Kane Natural Area is named).