Author Topic: Borgs Woods  (Read 109756 times)

Offline BJRED

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Re: BORGS WOODS
« Reply #15 on: April 03, 2005, 08:04:41 PM »
Kaffekat..........gosh i remember foschini park and the ice skating......and i believe as a kid it did snow more, much more then it does now...... ;D but the January storm was indeed a big one, the drifts alone covered everything... :'( now did you live on Kaplan, all i can say about Kaplan was when it rained or the snow melted alot of basements got extremely wet...especially down by the dunkin donuts where you could cut threw, now it looks like you can't even cut threw and that big wall.............i suppose that helped the water problem.... ;D

Offline Editor

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Action in Borg's Woods
« Reply #16 on: August 29, 2005, 08:16:37 PM »
The following is from a group called the "Junior Live Action Guild":

Enter into the world of Live Action Role Play (LARP), where the forces of magic and the thrill of combat decide your fate. It is here, where your imagination will be set free into reality. Come weary traveler, come and find yourself.

The group organizes role playing games.  Borg's Woods is one venue:
     
Our Season Begins September 10th 2005!  The Openeing event will be at Borgs Woods in Hackensack. Gameplay starts at 1pm and should end around 5 ...I ask that all game officers report to the woods at noon to set up the game.
 
I hope to see many new faces there, and with the recruiting thats been done, im sure there will be. We should all be looking forward to a wonderfull Larp season.


Click here for more information: Junior Live Action Guild
« Last Edit: August 29, 2005, 08:20:19 PM by Editor »

ericmartindale

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« Reply #17 on: January 21, 2006, 10:49:27 PM »
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« Last Edit: September 05, 2009, 01:35:46 AM by ericmartindale »

Jeanne (Mascia)Eakland

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Re: Borgs Woods
« Reply #18 on: February 24, 2006, 08:58:53 PM »
I lived on Lookout Ave untill my late teens. Coles Brook ran thru my yard. We always said that our house was in Hackensack, but our yard, on the other side of the brook, was in Maywood. I played in Borgs Woods every chance I could as a child, skated on the pond, and sled the hills (often at risk to life and limb).
I remember once my brother caught a Snapping Turtle in the brook and we would often catch salamanders in the marshy area between the brook and the woods. I often tell my kids stories of those times.  It was a wonderful place to grow up in the 60's!

ericmartindale

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Re: Borgs Woods
« Reply #19 on: October 06, 2006, 10:31:25 PM »
Saturday, October 28, 2006, will be the First Annual Borg’s Woods Cleanup Day.  Volunteers are to meet for a FREE BREAKFAST at the Living Hope church (corner of Spring Valley Ave and Summit Ave) at 9:00 AM and a briefing on the project. 

The city is sponsoring “Make a Difference Day”, and Borg’s Woods will be one of several properties to be cleaned up.  Charlotte Paney is coordinating the event, and will ensure that a dumpster is provided at the corner of Fairmount Ave and Allen Street.  The dumpster will be promptly removed by the city DPW.

Also “onboard” and supporting the event is Paul Van Gendt, chair of the Hackensack Environmental Commission.  It is likely that scouting groups and volunteers associated with the Hackensack Riverkeeper will attend.

I will provide maps showing where litter and debris is located.  The area along Fairmount Ave has been the worst hit. Many nearby homeowners have recently taken to dumping debris and yard waste, despoiling the trail and entrance area.  I have actually witnessed a Fairmount Ave homeowner (one of the two new houses) dumping in the woods.

About half of a dilapidated fence encircling a former vegetable garden has already been removed by the County.  The remaining portions are an eyesore, and exist in various stages of collapse.  This will be one of the focal points of the cleanup effort.

Portions of the fence and nearby woods are covered with an invasive non-native ivy known as Purple-Leaved Wintercreeper. This species “escaped” from landscaping around the Borg mansion itself. It has despoiled about an acre of the woods. This is a parasitic species that KILLS TREES. It presents a grave threat to the woods, and if left alone it will eventually destroy the woods as we know it.  Volunteers will be asked to strip the vines off of trees.

In years past, naturalists have created arboretums in which native and foreign species are maintained in a partially wooded park-like setting. Considerable gardening efforts are expended to keep an arboretum in a pseudo-natural condition.   Instead, at Borg’s Woods, the concept is simply to maintain the ecosystem as one for native species only. This is the “natural arboretum” concept.  Borg’s Woods has been documented as one of the oldest woodlands in New Jersey, and has an amazing diversity of native plant and tree species. It’s unusually large vernal pond is also significant on a statewide basis.  The value of Borg’s Woods lies in representing the purest form of Bergen County’s native vegetation --- somewhere in Bergen County this must be preserved amidst the onslaught of invasive species throughout the region.

Planting species of ferns or wildflowers that are native to Bergen County, but are currently not present in Borg’s Woods, is consistent with the “natural arboretum” concept.  This will be done WITHOUT mulching, which serves to inhibit the reproduction of all plant species, including the good ones. We will benefit from the lessons learned at Staib Park, in which mulching has undermined the stated goals of establishing a wild ecosystem along the brook  Wildflower plantings could be a later phase of the cleanup, perhaps next year.

My goal is to see the restored area along Fairmount Ave becoming a “native wildflower garden” instead of being despoiled by dumping and a collapsed fence, and choked with invasive species such as Multiflora (a sticker bush), Japanese Knotweed, and Purple-Leafed Wintercreeper.

Offline ericmartindale

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Re: Borgs Woods
« Reply #20 on: April 16, 2007, 12:49:50 PM »
Charlotte Panny, Hackensack's Clean Communities Coordinator, has scheduled the SECOND Borg's Woods cleanup event.  It will be Saturday, April 28th, 9AM -12 Noon, at Borg's Woods.  Cleanup of city parks will occur the same day, and all volunteers will be treated to a free lunch at the Hackensack Civic Center at noon.  For more info, Charlotte can be reached at 201-646-3907.

The first event, held last fall, was a great success.  Over 50 people turned out, mostly kids from local schools.  The kids even created a new trail, under my supervision.  Large sections of dilapidated fence along Fairmount Avenue were removed, and a large dumpster provided by the city, was 2/3 full of debris, including fence sections, remains of an old grape trellis, cuttings of invasive species, and litter.  It was originally billed as the "first annual Borg's Woods cleanup", but the event was so popular with kids, and such an overall success that it will now be held twice a year.

I am seeking to get the County Dept of Parks to remove all the invasives from the former vegetable garden along Fairmount Ave. This is to provide "garden space" for kids to plant and maintain a native species wildflower garden. The existing tangle of invasive stickers, invasive vines, dilapidated fencing, and fallen Mulberry trees is so dense that volunteers can barely make a dent in it. Construction equipment is needed to clear it out. I'm willing to volunteer my time to help supervise this clearing. As envisioned, only species native to NJ will be planted in the garden.  I am also hoping to get the County to fill in some muddy holes along the first hundred feet of trail coming in off Allen Street.  This could be done in a few hours by a County crew. Anyone who has ever walked this section of trail knows exactly what I'm talking about.  It's a problem that can easily be fixed.

Linda Flynn, a science teacher at the 5ive6ix school, is organizing another "Green Team" for the Borg's Woods event.   She's a great believer in Borg's Woods, and the potential to be used by Hackensack and Maywood for outdoor environmental education programs.  The garden would be one component of the system.

Another project still on the back burner is a foot-bridge over Coles Brook from Woodland Avenue in Maywood.  There is a non-wetland mound on the Hackensack side, so the short span could be built without impacting wetlands. This would allow students from the Maywood Avenue school to walk straight down Elm Street to Borg's Woods. Borg's Woods is about 200 feet from the end of Elm Street. It's about 6 blocks, an acceptable distance to walk.  No need for a school bus.  In the past, students from the Nellie K. Parker School have walked a longer distance to Borg's Woods for 1/2 day field trips. 

Lack of adequate access from Maywood remains an issue 13 years after the preservation of the land.  And there was no shortage of supporters from Maywood during the campaign to preserve the land.  Their support should count for something.  More access means a greater constituency of people who care for the woods, and to look out for it's interests. 

Today's kids are tomorrow's homeowners, let's get them thinking about caring about the environment, and not just Borg's Woods.  These cleanup events and any future science programs established by the school systems are exactly what is needed to get kids to be concerned about the environment. Wasn't that the purpose of preserving Borg's Woods ? It was more than the animals and the trees, it was for our kids and for the future.

Offline ericmartindale

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Re: Borgs Woods
« Reply #21 on: April 23, 2007, 02:02:27 PM »
There’s been a minor change for “Cleanup Day”, set for Saturday 4/28.  The event is still to be held at 9 AM at Borg’s Woods and various parks, but the RECEPTION and FREE FOOD will be under a tent at Johnson Park.

The city will be dedicating the walkway at Johnson Park at 12:00, so this will be a good opportunity to gather residents who are doing the cleanup and let them participate in the walkway dedication.  The city’s section in Johnson Park was completed last year, and the County’s section running north from the end of Johnson Park is currently under construction !!!

The current weather forecast is for a high temperature of 49 degrees on Saturday, and partly to mostly cloudy. It should be in the 40’s for this event.

Charlotte Panny had set a meeting with the new County Parks director, Bruce Bonaventuro, to discuss the scope of work for this and future events at Borg’s Woods.  Bruce canceled the meeting, and another has not been set.

However, Bonaventura has spoken with and met the local residents on Brook Street who are DESTROYING the environment, and are advancing an agenda contrary to the interests of Borg’s Woods.  The Brook Street residents are draining the wetlands and lowering the profile of the stream that drains out of the central swamp, altering the fragile ecological balance.  The wetland is a vernal pond, which is typically fullest from November to mid-May, and usually bone dry in mid-summer. Over the past 20 years, the residents of Brook Street are responsible for a 1-foot drop in the water level.  They come in at night with shovels and do their work.  The Hackensack Riverkeeper Organization researched this, and it was determined that [name remove by Editor] is the primary responsible party.  [name remove by Editor] is a former advocate of Borg’s Woods who I know well.

As a result of the water level drop, Borg’s Woods has experienced LOCAL EXTINCTION of amphibian species. In addition, small trees are now growing in the open wetland, an area previously too wet for them to take root. The entire open marshy habitat is slowly being destroyed.  The swamp is NOT filling with organic matter through any natural process and become a forested wetland.  It’s being drained by residents, including one resident who wants to sell their house, and doesn’t want buyers to see standing water behind their property.

Is this a question of resident interests VERSUS environmental protection? Not at all. The entire premise of the residents view is faulted.. The residents complain about basement flooding, but the irony is that the swamp is NOT responsible, as follows:

(1)   the water table under Brook Street is MUCH HIGHER than it was before the street and the houses were built (1952 +/-) because a previously existing intermittent brook along the base of the hill was filled in when the area was landfilled and the houses were built. The street was named for this brook. Landfilling is known to cause water tables to rise, this is a classic case. Especially when a BROOK is landfilled.
(2)   Underground water flow around Brook Street is NORTH, not south. Nature wants to recreate the stream that used to flow north into the swamp.  The water in their basements is draining off the hill to the east, flowing north underground, and causing the water table to rise. It has nothing to do with the swamp or anything else downstream.
(3)   The bottom line is that northwards migration of groundwater ensures that THE WATER TABLE ON BROOK STREET WILL ALWAYS BE HIGHER THAN THE SURFACE LEVEL OF THE SWAMP no matter how much they drain the swamp, or they persuade the County to drain the swamp. 
(4)   Theoretically, the entire swamp could be dredged and the water table dropped 3 feet, and it wouldn’t stop their basements from flooding. 

These same residents would prefer not to have trail improvements either, as if the nature preserve is their big back yard and nobody is ever walking back there. The “big back yard syndrome” was Freeholder Richard Mola’ objection to purchasing the woods in 1994. Then to top it off, all 5 houses regularly dump all their leaves, branches, and yard waste in the woods, smothering native plants and wildflowers and despoiling the environment.

These people communicate with the County, and present themselves as the voices of reason, and the advocates of the woods.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

[Editor's note: I don't know the person ericmartindale accused.  I delete the name because as far as I know, this is only ericmartindale's opinion about the situation.  Since I do not (and will never) try to verify all the facts that other people assert, I will usually delete anything that I may consider defamatory.]

« Last Edit: April 23, 2007, 11:07:16 PM by Editor »

Offline ericmartindale

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Re: Borgs Woods
« Reply #22 on: April 30, 2007, 01:07:27 AM »
We had about 60 volunteers for the Borg’s Woods cleanup on Saturday, April 28, 2007, a few more than last time. Linda Flynn, a teacher at the 5ive6ix School, and her son, are already planning on taking on more responsibility and expanding this program.  Most of the volunteers were kids, and mostly new faces. At least half of the volunteers had never stepped foot in Borg’s Woods before, and were amazed that such a place exists in the most heavily developed community in Bergen County.

People came early, and were eager to start. A dozen people were there waiting when I arrived 10 minutes early to direct the scope of work. The group worked steady for 2.5 hours, more than last time.

The trails overall were as muddy as I've ever seen them, since it rained hard less than 24 hours earlier. I caught some flak from the city DPW when they saw more debris than they expected, including an 18-foot steel pipe, a rusted barrel, one tire, the hood from a 1970’s Chevy, a large extra-thick pane of glass, and cuttings from invasive species.

Officials from the city DPW say there is some discrepancy over whether or not the group should be pruning away invasive species.  Supposedly the County had not signed off on this aspect. This is regularly done by other environmental groups at other nature areas.  The Hackensack Riverkeeper holds an annual event at Staib Park in Hackensack and adjacent areas along Coles Brook in Paramus that includes invasives control.  Meanwhile, the Friends of the Teaneck Greenway are organizing their first invasives control project at Brett Park in Teaneck.

Any disagreement over the scope of work is due to poor communications with the County. The “scope of work meeting” I had set with the County was canceled before the event.  I have every reason to believe that the County Parks Department consists of intelligent and reasonable people who can be educated as to importance of controlling invasive species in their parks and preserves throughout Bergen County.  This is not going to be a problem when the event is held again this Fall.  Flynn says she is going to be in communications directly with the County Parks Department well before then.
 
The group got rid of all the yard waste dumped by local homeowners at the Allen Street entrance, plus an inflatable swimming pool and a pile of cinderblocks dumped near the end of Fairmount Ave, and one entire patch of English Ivy. They even started stripping the invasive Purple-Leaved Wintercreeper ivy off the trees.

The trail paralleling the rear of the former Borg estate was widened, and a huge fallen limb removed. One crew of volunteers worked hard at this project for 2 solid hours. This trail is believed to have been created over the last few months by local residents walking their dogs to and from the trail east of the central wetland. Evidently it was the cutting of a gigantic specimen of Burning Bush (an invasive species) along Fairmount Avenue during last Fall’s cleanup that opened up more direct access to the “upper trail”. This avoids the need for visitors and their dogs to walk through a privately owned back yard to reach the woods.
 
We had a one-woman fence demolition team working on the remaining sections of the former vegetable garden along Fairmount Avenue.  She ripped out 40 feet of ivy-infested fence by herself. This was tough work, but no big challenge for a 5' 2" Asian woman wielding a bolt cutter.  After two cleanup events, only about one-quarter of the original fence remains, most of which is fully collapsed and buried in ivy.
 
We had anticipated help from the Hackensack Riverkeeper and the city’s Environmental Commission, but neither produced any volunteers for the event.  Linda Flynn takes much of the credit for getting people there and she was awarded a “golden broom” at the 12:00 noon reception held at Johnson Park.  Most of the volunteers went to the reception, which included some political grandstanding and a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the city’s riverfront walkway in Johnson Park.

Offline just watching

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Re: Borgs Woods
« Reply #23 on: September 22, 2008, 11:18:56 PM »
I found out that there was a film crew in Hackensack shooting a new movie called "Fight the Panda Syndicate".  They have a website, www.fighttthepandasyndicate.com.  Sounds like a B-movie with many hot-looking evil women in it.

They filmed a scene in Borg's Woods.  Unsure what type of scene was filmed or why this site was chosen. I guess we can all wait till the movie comes out.

Offline Editor

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Re: Borgs Woods
« Reply #24 on: March 24, 2009, 02:23:13 PM »
« Last Edit: March 24, 2009, 08:07:05 PM by Editor »

Offline Editor

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Coyote in Borgs Woods
« Reply #25 on: January 07, 2010, 07:04:06 PM »
Coyote in Borgs Woods.

Photo courtesy John Labrosse.

Offline Editor

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Buck and Turkey in Borgs Woods
« Reply #26 on: January 08, 2010, 04:17:33 PM »
John also sent pictures of a buck and a turkey in Borgs Woods.  I wonder if they know about the Coyote. 
« Last Edit: January 08, 2010, 04:20:18 PM by Editor »

Offline Homer Jones

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Re: Borgs Woods
« Reply #27 on: January 08, 2010, 04:45:19 PM »
They will now if they read this blog.

Offline just watching

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Re: Borgs Woods
« Reply #28 on: January 08, 2010, 10:49:17 PM »
A coyote !!!  Time for the neighbors to start crying wolf.   Better keep your housecats inside.

A little Editor's discretion would have been appropriate to protect local wildlife.  Now the County is going to be called in to trap the Coyote.  I say let the Coyotes stay, they are just picking through garbage, eating squirrels, and maybe an occasional possum.  It's hard to believe that 20 acres of woods can sustain this kind of wildlife, they must be ranging wider and just using Borg's as a home base.

Offline BLeafe

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Re: Buck and Turkey in Borgs Woods
« Reply #29 on: January 08, 2010, 11:06:25 PM »
a buck and a turkey in Borgs Woods.

Mmmm! Good eatin' in Borg's Woods! A cafe will probably pop up there any day now - maybe they can revive an old Rt 17 club name for it: Joint in the Woods;)
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