News

February 2018…
The Meadowlands Conservation Trust (MCT) is proud to congratulate Trustee Greg Remaud on his appointment as the Acting Executive Director of the NY/NJ Baykeeper. Remaud, a member of the organization for over 20 years, was previously its Deputy Director. The NY/NJ Baykeeper is a vital environmental advocacy group that has helped to preserve over 10,000 acres of open space in the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary. The Baykeeper Board of Trustees voted to name Remaud as Acting Executive Director this month.

“Greg Remaud has been a vigorous, unwavering advocate and fighter for the health of the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary and the protection of all of New Jersey’s critical natural resources for more than two decades,” said Bill Sheehan, Chairman of the MCT. “The Trust has experienced firsthand Greg’s incredible wealth of knowledge and tireless passion for environmental conservation. We are extremely proud of his well-deserved appointment.”

The NY/NJ Baykeeper’s mission is to protect, preserve, and restore the ecological integrity and productivity of the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary. Its efforts include helping to shape and enforce water quality, land use, and coastal policies; preserving  remaining wildlife habitat in the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary through land acquisition, innovation planning, and ecological restoration; and repopulating the New York and New Jersey bays with oysters and creating sustainable habitat in order to monitor and improve the health of the estuary’s ecosystem.

“I applaud the NY/NJ Baykeeper for its excellent decision to choose Greg Remaud as its Acting Executive Director,” said Christine Sanz, Chief Executive Officer of the MCT. “Greg’s dedication to the environment, excellent work on behalf of the Baykeeper, and proven leadership skills make him a tremendous asset to the NY/NJ Baykeeper, the MCT, and important ecosystems around the State of New Jersey.”

About Greg Remaud:

Greg Remaud has been an advocate for land preservation in the Meadowlands and densely developed communities for over 20 years. He helped draft the conceptual plan and legislation that created the Meadowlands Conservation Trust in 1999. Remaud has also led and partnered in numerous land acquisition, preservation and restoration projects in the Hackensack River Watershed and throughout the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary Region. He serves on many non-profit conservation organization advisory boards and has presented on urban land preservation in a variety of forums. Remaud is a board member and past president of the Liberty State Park Conservancy.

The MCT would like to thank the Bergen County Audubon Society for its generous donation of $900 to produce interpretative signs with photos and descriptions of ducks that will be seen at Mehrhof Pond in Little Ferry. The signs will be part of the Mehrhof Pond Wildlife Observation Area, a project of the Trust, the Bergen County Utilities Authority and Bergen County. The project is currently underway and will also feature a new bird blind overlooking the pond, additional interpretative signage detailing the area’s rich history and new fencing.

Meadowlands Conservation Trust Chairman Bill Sheehan has been named the Waterkeeper Alliance Hero of the Year in recognition of his 20th year as the Hackensack Riverkeeper. The Waterkeeper Alliance is a global organization dedicated to fighting for every community’s right to clean, drinkable, fishable and swimmable water. Congratulations Chairman Sheehan on this prestigious honor!

Congratulations to Cora LoPresti of Wood-Ridge for her hard work helping Meadowlands wildlife and improving the environment while working toward her Girl Scout Gold Award.

Cora, now a first-year student at Rutgers University, enlisted her fellow students and community members while a senior at Wood-Ridge High School for two projects: building much-needed birdhouses and organizing a volunteer cleanup of the Skeetkill Creek Marsh in Ridgefield. She was advised by the Meadowlands Conservation Trust, which owns Skeetkill Creek Marsh.

We commend Cora for her stewardship and setting a wonderful example for her peers of how everyone can do their part in raising awareness about the importance of protecting and improving our natural resources. Cora spent 83 hours over the course of 10 months preparing and implementing her projects.

Cora built awareness and recruited volunteers for her initiatives by creating a remarkable website and presentation explaining the importance of her work. You can visit the site here. She spread the word by giving presentations after school, putting up fliers throughout the school and talking about her projects during morning announcements. Cora also submitted an article to her local paper, The Gazette.

In April, volunteers gathered 25 bags of trash and debris at Skeetkill Creek Marsh, including, of all things, a coconut. The group also removed three tires from the site. The Ridgefield DPW disposed of the garbage.

The 16.3 acre site is teeming with fish, waterfowl and shorebirds, and includes benches for the public to enjoy the beautiful, natural setting. Keeping the area clean helps wildlife thrive and provides the public with an optimal natural experience.

Cora’s second project resulted in the construction of more than two dozen birdhouses this past May that will be placed in the Hackensack River and its marshes next spring. Cora wrote a letter about the project to a local Home Depot, which in turn donated all of the material for the construction of the birdhouses.

The structures are also known as Tree Swallow boxes, as they are made to specifically attract these migratory birds that come to the Meadowlands by the hundreds each spring.

The magnetic blue-colored birds are secondary cavity nesters, which means that they must have the use of dead trees to nest in, and the tree must have a hole that has been excavated by a primary cavity nester. Due to a lack of trees for the birds to nest in, Tree Swallow boxes are in high demand in the Meadowlands.

We are extremely proud of Cora and her incredible efforts in helping our environment and hope that other young people follow her lead.

Sincerest thanks from
Chairman Captain Bill Sheehan
and the Meadowlands Conservation Trust