Life in the Hackensack continues to improve, observers and studies sayThursday, September 5, 2013
BY BRIAN ANDERSON
STAFF WRITER
South Bergenite
It was there before the New Jersey Turnpike, the industry and obviously, the people. After years of pollution, waste and neglect, the Hackensack River is slowly but surely making a comeback as an ecological gem in northern New Jersey.
The Meadowlands area is brimming with life. Diamondback terrapins sun themselves on logs. PHOTO COURTESY/ JIM WRIGHT NJMC
Hawks enjoy the many fish in the wetlands. FILE PHOTO
Researchers and environmentalists have observed a revival of the river in two ways: one is the eyeball test, and the other is through studies.
Jim Wright has been at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) for just over five years, but in that time, he said he’s seen "significant changes" to the wildlife that lives in the Meadowlands. Wright is a birder who runs the online nature and wildlife blog for the NJMC and the author of "The Nature of the Meadowlands."
Unusual birds can be found up and down the river and in its marshes—some birds make nests within the district, while others just stop by for some eating. He said large predators, like bald eagles, falcons and other raptors are common in the Meadowlands once again. "It’s really not a surprise to see a bald eagle on a walk now," he said.
When Wright first arrived at the NJMC in the spring of 2008, he said bald eagles were rare to see. Now, there’s a pair successfully nesting near the Hackensack River and next to the Meadowlands.
The shorebird pool at DeKorte Park also attracts other migratory birds throughout the year, Wright said.
One success story, and one that points to the better quality of the environment on the Hackensack River, is the osprey. For over 70 years, ospreys weren’t nesting in the Meadowlands, according to Hackensack Riverkeeper Captain Bill Sheehan. Ospreys are birds of prey and eat fish, so if there’s fish in the river, the birds will stay and nest.
In 2007, ospreys began nesting along the Hackensack River again, and Wright said this year, there were five successful osprey nests - one nest was knocked out by Hurricane Sandy.
"It’s a bed and breakfast," said Wright, about the Meadowlands and the river. "There’s a rotating population of birds."
Even bugs can tell a story. Wright said he’s seen more dragonflies this year; they’re one of those "canary in a coalmine" species, he said, and an increased population probably attests to better water quality of the river.
In 2005, the NJMC completed a fish study that looked at fish populations in the Hackensack River between 2001 and 2003, and compared the findings to a similar study that was conducted between 1987 and 1988. The study revealed that compared to 15 years ago, many of the same species live in the river but the fish population was more evenly distributed. "The river is no longer overwhelmingly dominated by the mummichog (a pollution tolerant species) and the fish community has gained more desirable game species," the report states. It continues that larger fish, such as striped bass, white perch and carp were more abundant in the early 2000s than they were in the late 1980s.
A change in diversity over the 15 years between the studies was greatest in the upper parts of the Hackensack River, but was basically unchanged in the lower section, according to the study.
"All of this, in addition to the large increases in the numbers of pollution sensitive amphipods collected as by-catch during the fisheries collections attest to the improvements in water quality that have slowly occurred between the 1987-88 and 2001-03 studies," the report states.
Even the small things — barnacles and benthic macroinvertebrates (snails, clams and worms) — also continue to make a comeback, according to Brian Aberback, an information officer for the NJMC.
"Twenty years ago barnacles were unheard of in the Meadowlands District because the river was too polluted to support them," Aberback said.
According to another study done in the early 2000s by the NJMC, the small invertebrates that live on the riverbed had increased in number and abundance since the late 1980s. Those small creatures eat organic matter on the bottom of the river and return nutrients to the riverbed, and are a source of food for fish, turtles and crabs.
One study that NJMC researchers are still conducting involves diamondback terrapins. Since 2009, more than 900 turtles have been caught, tagged and released back into the river, Aberback said. Recent catches revealed that many turtles have not yet been tagged, meaning the population of turtles living in the river is increasing.
But, there’s still some not-great aspects of the river. Oysters that were pulled from the river in the spring of 2011 had tissue abnormalities, tumors and thin shells. Entire cages of oysters had died out, especially ones located near old industrial sites and landfills. The oyster study was conducted by Rutgers University and the Riverkeeper.
And New Jersey prohibits the eating of blue crabs caught in the Hackensack River because of high levels of cancer-causing elements found in their flesh. Signs posted up and down the river, as well as along the Passaic River, advise fisherman not to eat the blue crabs.
Judith Weis, a Rutgers professor who has studied the Hackensack River for over a decade, said despite the health advisory, the blue crabs can and do thrive in the river. The blue crabs eat a strange diet—mostly mud and sediment, which is abnormal from a typical blue crab—but grow and continue to live on the bottom of the river.
"They’re doing OK despite the fact that they are not quite normal," she said.
Bluefish that are born in the river before heading out to the ocean are typically smaller and less active because of the contamination, Weis said. But she said there’s been no studies on how that affects the blue fish once they make it to the ocean.
Sheehan remembers the 1960s and 70s when the Hackensack River was so polluted, very few animals could live in it. It was polluted both with everyday trash and hard metal contaminates from industrial sites that dumped straight into the river.
Once the Clean Water Act was passed and sewerage treatment made advancements to keep pollution out of the waterway, the Hackensack is slowly recovering. As the river recovers, so does the life in it and the life that relies on it.
"What’s going on is a revival of the fishery resource," he said. "And that brings in the birds."
Sheehan said he estimates there’s at least 65 species of marine life living in the river, and that marine life attracts birds to the area that then stay around because there’s enough food. Years ago, birds found very little to eat in the river he said, but many different bird species now either call the Meadowlands home, or migrate and stop along the Hackensack River to feast on the aquatic life in the river.
"It’s not just the birds, it’s not just the fish," he said. "The food web is coming back together."
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