A brief visit to DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst last week allayed fears that the little gem in the midst of the Meadowlands might have been devastated by Hurricane Irene.
On Tuesday, Jim Wright, communications officer for the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, told us it was too early to assess the extent of any damage, but “it could have been worse.”
Wright said that some folks told him of “confused birds” on Valley Brook Ave. during the storm. (You’d be confused too if winds lifted you from your home and were buffeting you about in the air.)
Less confused were the Canada geese (does nothing faze them?) that decided to make the best of the conditions and take a swim up Valley Brook after it turned into a river. (See photo.)
One project Irene interrupted was the NJMC’s lowering of the waters in the shorebird tidal ponds – the better for the fowl to feed. The work had begun about two weeks ago, but storm waters have refilled the ponds—and to overflowing.
Wright also later reported that the park had lost 11 trees, including two large willows. And at least one of the trail boardwalks (see photo), weighing several tons, was washed well off its track—an indication of the power of the floodtide that came through the Meadowlands.
But none of the park’s buildings appeared to have been damaged. And the birds and the butterflies and the mammals are doing well.
“Nature has a way of surviving,” Wright noted.
– Karen Zautyk
