EVALUATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION WORK AT TEANECK CREEK CONSERVANCY

Service Entrance from Fort Lee Road slopes down into preserve. The new embankment is not high enough to buffer the preserve.

7. Directly north of the Fort Lee Road scenic overlook/embankment, another permanent pond could be created at least one or two acres in size. Now that the scenic overlook has been created, it would be simply glorious to have a sizable permanent pond at its base. Waters from the Stormwater Canyon would drain into this pond. This can still be accomplished. I strongly recommend it.

8. Stormwater Canyon was over-engineered. Yes, it’s working as designed, but it’s just not natural-looking. I would have included a faux waterfall about 6 feet high about half-way down the hillside, with a small viewing area very accessible from the parking lot. I would have brought in the company that made the faux cliff face at the Mountain Lion exhibit in Van Saun Zoo, and tasked them to make a waterfall that looks like it was carved naturally out of the native red shale bedrock. This would have been about 1/8^th the size and cost of the Mountain Lion exhibit. Too late now. Nobody should look at Stormwater Canyon, and know in one second that it was re-engineered. 

Stormwater Canyon works to prevent erosion, but is not natural-looking

9. I see that excavated soil was piled up to create a central upland just west and northwest of the Dragonfly Pond. I was skeptical about that, but now that it’s done, I like it. If anything, it could have been larger and higher. This upland is a needed addition to the habitat diversity, and it will support different species of vegetation and trees, for an overall systemic benefit to wildlife. However, the upland was not cleared of invasives, leaving an island of invasives in the middle of the work area.

10. There was no effort to widen any part of the Teaneck Creek itself, so that the creek itself could handle more stormwater. Instead, all the effort was to hold water on the site, prior to it reaching Teaneck Creek. These are two completely separate strategies for stormwater management, and each is valid at times. I suspect that widening the brook or creating a pond along it would have been an NJDEP permitting nightmare because the tides reach up into the lower reaches of the creek.

11. The Butterfly Garden and nearby large specimen trees were preserved. There may be an opportunity to expand the Butterfly Garden now that invasives nearby have been removed.

12. I didn’t see a single deer during my visit. Every other time I came here in the last ten years, I’ve seen many deer. Perhaps the new habitat is not as optimal for deer. Deer are over-browsing and destroying natural areas all over Bergen County. Borg’s Woods has been severely altered, and many iconic plant species are gone. I think the County Dept. of Parks should adopt a deer control program. Teaneck Creek Conservancy is large enough for bow hunting. Too many deer are very bad for the environment, they are basically locusts with hooves. Harvesting deer in Bergen County should be promoted as:

• organic meat 
• environmentally sustainable 
• consistant with the preservation of threatened and endangered plant species, and 
• “good for the health of our ecosystems”

13. I am pleased to report that the Walnut Grove along the west side of the preserve was largely preserved. Just west of the Walnut Grove is the rounded curve the former trolley line. Most of the raised berm of the trolley line has been preserved. Portions were removed by the regrading. The Teaneck Creek Conservancy does not recognize that this raised berm is the former trolley line. The organization thinks the trolley line was elsewhere onsite. I am stating as fact that the raised berm is the former trolley line. The original Martindale homestead in Bergen County is less than two blocks from the Teaneck Creek Conservancy. My Great Grandfather purchased a home there, a few years prior to serving in the First World War. The house is still standing and unchanged. My grandfather grew up there. He and his siblings played in these woods and fields, and rode the trolley to Hackensack. I heard all the stories. Some local people used to trap muskrats and hunt back there. The Teaneck Creek Conservancy is part of my family legacy. 

Raised Berm Trail is the Former trolley line (western part of the Conservancy)

14. I see additional wetland plant species growing in the south end of the Dragonfly Pond. Nice touch. I would have excavated and extended the pond eastward to the trail that goes near the pond. The importance of aquatic habitat, in addition to seasonal pools and forested wetlands, has been overlooked. All habitat types are important, and the diversity of habitat would draw more bird species. A more substantial aquatic habitat would have more fish, amphibian, and reptile species, and would generate less mosquito problems, than seasonally or intermittently flooded areas. The current balance of permanent standing water vs. seasonal/intermittent water is not the balance I would have designed, and please note that this observation is coming from someone who is clearly not a friend of the Bergen County Mosquito Control Commission.

15. I like the stone dust trails, and I am optimistic about increased public access. Some people wanted wood chip trails only, but those require more maintenance and more costs over time. The Teaneck Creek Conservancy is a more intensive public-use location than Borg’s Woods, where I would not support stone dust trails. This preserve is now much more attractive to local school districts for environmental education programs, and that’s a huge plus. 

16. My most serious complaint is the cost of the project, and in particular the cost per acre as compared to wetland restoration work that has been done in The Meadowlands. I think the project could have been done for less one third of the cost. Yes, there is an upfront design cost, but that should not have been more than $300,000. And then the cost to move around the dirt and regrade should have been roughly comparable, PER ACRE, to the Mill Creek wetland restoration project in the Meadowlands, adjusted for inflation. There are records as to what that project costed, per acre. And the cost of the final plantings, that could be $100,000 at most. And I presume there were some additional costs associated with plotting specimen trees and leaving them uncut. There is no way this project should have cost $7 million. Not in this universe. Someone made too much money on it.

I am particularly interested in this Teaneck project, as there is neighborhood interest around Borg’s Woods for a series of flood retention basins along Coles Brook, which would reduce extreme and problematic flooding. Flooding along Coles Brook is so severe around Main Street, Madison Ave, and Johnson Ave in Hackensack that the recent Hackensack Master Plan update talks about removing flood-prone garden apartments and commercial properties and creating a stormwater detention basin where Madison Avenue currently exists. In my opinion, “Blue Acres” for the lower reaches of Coles Brook is an environmental extremist solution that should only be considered after upstream stormwater retention efforts are untaken, and if they fall short. 

I suggest that a Coles Brook Watershed Committee be set up to study the problem. It could be composed of residents from Maywood, Hackensack, Paramus, and River Edge, and with heavy involvement of the County of Bergen. I would like to be involved in setting it up. Any flood retention / wetlands enhancement work along Coles Brook would not be to the scale of work at the Teaneck Creek Conservancy, but some of the ideas used for Teaneck Creek, and the lessons learned, are very relevant. There are multiple potential locations along both the Coles and Van Saun Brooks for flood retention, including along the Coles Brook edge of Borg’s Woods, behind Lowes, Staib Park in Hackensack, Van Saun Park upstream of the pond, and more. 

Thank you.