Letter to the Editor: Let Mother Nature Clean Up Hackensack

By Krysta Daniels

To the Editor,

On April 2, there was an article written by Managing Editor Mark Bonamo, on the debate on cleaning up Borg’s Woods in Hackensack, New Jersey. I am from Hackensack and I enjoy going through Borg’s Woods. It didn’t become a part of the Bergen County Park system until 1994, which is a few years before I moved to Hackensack. Many of the people in your article said they wanted nature to take its course and the Bergen County Department of Parks shouldn’t step in to clean the damage. I completely agree with the local environmentalists with this decision.

We don’t want big trucks and bulldozers to come in and cause more havoc then necessary. "Any time that you bring heavy equipment into the woods, you risk creating further damage to shrubbery and wildflowers all over the area," said Martindale. "It also creates an unnecessary expense in a time of budgetary shortfall."

The trees that have fallen onto houses because of the bad rain storm we had is understandable. If there is a part of the park and surrounding houses that are effected by the fallen trees, then those should be cleaned up. But on the idea of picking up the remainder of the trees that fell, well that is unnecessary. Nature has always taken care of itself when it comes to weather storms. I think it would be detrimental, to have the county park spend so much money on the trees that are harmless rather then using that money to be used else where.

Bill Sheehan, head of the Hackensack Riverkeeper environmental advocacy group, believed that from the storm’s damage comes needed regeneration. "Bugs and other small critters will take care of the trees in good time, and that’s how you replenish the soil of the forest," Sheehan said. "Things die, they fall down, they biodegrade, and new things grow up. If a tree falls in the woods, it should probably stay there."

I agree whole-heartedly with what Bill Sheehan has proposed. There is no need to waste energy on cleaning up what can clean itself up. Let nature takes its course, because it's what it does best.