Reclaimed Jersey Creek Becomes Competitive Rowers' Sanctuary

Columbia University rowing team on Overpeck Creek.
(Photo from The New York Times.)

At first glance, northern New Jersey's Overpeck Creek seems an unlikely destination for competitive rowers. The waterway is a long stone's throw from an endlessly busy stretch of the New Jersey Turnpike. For years, the creek and its adjoining banks were a dreadful, polluted dump where toxic substances were an everyday occurrence. As with much of the Meadowlands, humans over the decades have worked hard to destroy or "develop" the creek, which happens to be part of a major North American flyway.

In recent years, Overpeck Creek slowly returned from its biological zombie state to the land of the somewhat living. That evolution, along with the stream's excellent rowing conditions, led local high schools to use it for training. Now Overpeck Creek has been discovered by Columbia University's rowing squad, and perhaps coincidentally, by The New York Times.

The newspaper ran an excellent article in today's online editions about Overpeck Creek, the rowing squads using it, and the mostly dreadful alternatives for rowers in the New York metropolitan area. The story is worth reading and thinking about. After that, check out a northjersey.com story on the same topic. It's remarkably similar to the Times article. However, northjersey.com's version was published over two months ago.