Volunteer Spotlight: Dr. George Reskakis
“I believe nothing is more important than protecting land.” Dr. George Reskakis, 2010
George Reskakis is a Meadowlands Conservation Trust volunteer, Chairman of the Parks, Playground and Recreational Advisory Board in Teaneck and Trustee of the Teaneck Creek Conservancy which raised over a million dollars in public and private funds to convert 46 acres of Teaneck land into a park, and he serves on the Hackensack River Greenway Advisory Board for Teaneck. He is also the Vice President of the Friends of Hackensack River Greenway Advisory Board, a lifetime member of the NY/NJ Trail Conference and a volunteer for Hackensack River Keeper, Inc.
Dr. Reskakis is originally from Brooklyn, NY but moved to Teaneck in the 1980’s to start a family with his wife, a Teaneck native. By profession, Dr. Reskakis is a dentist and owns a practice in New York City. It was not until 1999, that he caught the environmental activist bug and environmentalism soon became one of his deepest passions.
It all started on a family vacation he took with his wife and kids in August of 1999 where he traveled from Fair Banks to Denali to Anchorage and then took a ship to Juneau and then finally flew back home to the States from Vancouver. He admits that before his trip to Alaska, he was a “write-a-check environmentalist.” Dr. Reskakis fervently described what he saw during his two weeks in Alaska as the “verdant grandeur of the state” where he became “inspired by the vistas of diversity in plants and animals.” He could not believe how much fertile green his eyes beheld then and the beauty of Alaska’s wildlife is forever pressed in his heart. When speaking of the incredible nature he experienced in Alaska, he stated, “temperate rainforests brought tears to my eyes.”
Dr. Reskakis began working with the Meadowlands Conservation Trust in 2006 when he heard of an old Indian burial ground that was in danger of being bulldozed in his hometown of Teaneck, NJ. As a volunteer for Hackensack Riverkeeper, Inc., he became aware of the Trust as a land conservation entity via the Hackensack Riverkeeper, Inc.’s Executive Director, Captain Bill Sheehan, who also happens to be the chairman of the Meadowlands Conservation Trust. He has also helped the Trust identify other possible land preservation projects in Teaneck.
Dr. Reskakis has a special interest in land acquisition and preservation, building and maintaining trails and the protection of wildlife. He was drawn the Meadowlands Conservation Trust projects because he believes that if land can be saved in perpetuity then he has done his part to protect the planet. He believes in thinking globally and acting locally and that if a person does not tend to his own backyard then he is part of the problem.
He stated, “There is nothing more important that protecting land;” however, he communicated that he not totally against development. He is against developing natural lands but he is not against “redevelopment” or the development of land that has already been developed. The concept of redevelopment is one that lends itself to creating jobs, beautifying existing structures, making use of land that has already far removed from its natural state and preservation of natural lands. Besides protecting land for human beings, Dr. Reskakis believes that animals deserve a place to live too.
Finally, Dr. Reskakis expressed his hope that the Trust may continue expanding its role as land conservationists in the Meadowlands District and Hackensack River Watershed and that he may continue working on projects with the Trust. He also expressed his hope that we as the human race can move “towards a more sustainable future in which we stop using non renewable resources” and in which we as the human race live a healthier, more peaceful existence.
