Monthly Archives: November 2017

Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: To All Who Love the Meadowlands

BCAS Nature Walk at DeKorte Park

For everyone that has come to love our Meadowlands there have never been words needed or explanations sought to explain our passion for this special place.

There was never a requirement to discuss details or describe the reasons why the frequent visitors just know in their hearts that the Meadowlands is part of who we are and that it conveys “life” to those that have come to love it, the same as it does for any wild bird of the skies.

To those of us who grew up there it has risen like a phoenix from the ashes and for those that have recently discovered its magic is a whole new world which has been waiting to reveal itself to those lucky enough to search out its treasures. And yet sometimes I am still asked why I love the Meadowlands. So for those that have yet to visit there I will try in some way to explain what the Meadowlands means to me ans many more of us.

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Superstorm Sandy Conference Presentations Available Online

More than 25 presentations from last month’s Superstorm Sandy: Five Years Later conference are now available online. The conference hosted by the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute (MERI) brought  together  a  community  of scholars,  researchers,  urban planners  and  policy-makers  to  present  findings over the past five years about the environmental,  social  and design challenges facing East Coast estuaries and bays under more frequent extreme weather events.

Speakers included representatives of  MERI, the US Geological Survey, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, Rutgers University, Stevens Institute of Technology and Columbia University.

To read the presentations click here

Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: A Special Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving Day Walk At Teaneck Creek

      Every Thanksgiving is special ,and even more so for those of us who grew up loving the outdoors . I thought I would repost my column that I wrote back in 2011.  A Thanksgiving morning nature walk means even more now than it ever has.

Thanksgiving was always a special day for my brother and I. It meant much more to us than having a big dinner and watching football. It was a day we would get outside and enjoy nature together.

This wasn’t the only day of the year we would get together and relish the wonderful natural places we had around us but this was our day, a special time we set aside each year to appreciate the natural places we had close to our home in the Meadowlands.

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Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: The Spirit of the Eagle

Just as it has always happened since time immemorial, the seasons have changed, mornings have now become cold and crisp, and the final crimson and gold leaves have just about fallen to the ground. And now, like it always should have been, the Bald Eagle begins what it started eternities ago, patrolling the skies of New Jersey; fishing, hunting and soon raising its young as it did for eons past.

Growing up here in the Garden State and especially in the Meadowlands, the Bald Eagle was something we could only imagine and dream of – never could we ever dare to believe that one day we would see the Bald Eagle return here with the almost unimaginable success like it has today.

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McDowell Observatory Is Open (Next Public Viewing Night is Tomorrow, Nov. 15)

The William D. McDowell Observatory at DeKorte Park, which had been tempoarily closed for repair work, is back up and running! The Observatory features a research-grade telescope and is open to the public every Wednesday evening year-round, weather permitting. The next open viewing night is tomorrow, Nov. 15, from 8 to 10:30 pm