Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story

The 20,000 acres of wetlands in New Jersey now known as the Meadowlands were once home to hundreds of species of plants and animals. But in the four hundred years since European explorers first arrived in the Meadowlands, people have dammed up, drained, built over, and polluted this formerly vibrant ecosystem — and all but destroyed it. Still, signs of life remain — under bridges, on the edges of parking lots, and beside train tracks. Slowly but surely, with help from activist groups, government organizations, and ordinary people, the resilient creatures of the Meadowlands are making a comeback, and the wetlands are recovering. Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story is the ecological history of one of the most infamous urban wetlands as well as an exploration of the ways that humans and nature share the same environment and depend upon each other.