175 images capture the history and nature and environmental restoration of New Jersey’s Meadowlands.

For decades, New Jersey’s Meadowlands have been known as mostly the home of the NFL’s New York Giants and Jets, the place where Jimmy Hoffa is purportedly buried, or a wasteland that you passed through on your way somewhere else. For a while, that reputation was deserved. The land was blighted with unregulated landfills and the Hackensack River so polluted that barnacles couldn’t survive.

Today, though, the 30.4-square-mile region has made a remarkable comeback. Located in Bergen and Hudson Counties and just five miles from Manhattan, the Meadowlands is a prime destination for birders, kayakers, and other nature lovers. In words and images, The Nature of the Meadowlands illuminates the region’s natural and unnatural history, from its darkest days of a half-century ago to its amazing environmental revival.

This is a great resource and beautiful keepsake for residents and visitors, tourists of New Jersey, nature lovers, and history buffs.By Jim WrightJim Wright writes and photographs the Meadowlands Nature Blog for the N.J. Meadowlands Commission. He is also the birding columnist for The Bergen Record, nature columnist for The South Bergenite, and author of Jungle of the Maya, Hawk Mountain, and In the Presence of Nature.158 color & 17 b/w images158 color & 17 b/w images