Don's Jersey Birding: Our Local Heroes of the Environment, Part 3
by Don Torino
Pam Mistretta and her children, Olivia and Edward.
Photo courtesy of Don Torino.
Little Olivia walked over to the fisherman and handed him a bag for garbage.
“We are helping Mother Earth today,” she explained.
Unable to resist the always friendly Olivia, the fisherman joined in the effort.
This past Earth Day, Pam Mistretta and her family spent the day cleaning up at Kearny Marsh. They could have spent the day in front of the TV, playing video games or shopping at the mall, but they instead spent it helping the environment. Pam sees Earth Day as a chance to teach her children about real family values. 
Photo courtesy of Don Torino.
Every year since their children were small, the Mistrettas have conducted their family clean-up day at Kearny Marsh in the Meadowlands, a 400-acre freshwater marsh that supports birds such as the American Bittern, Yellow-Crowned Night Heron, American Coot and Common Moorhen. Muskrats are a common sight at Kearney Marsh, as well as Snapping, Painted and Spotted Turtles. The marsh is set in an urban environment near power lines and former landfills, an area that most people would not think of as a thriving natural environment, but Pam and her family have always been captured by how beautiful the marsh is.
Kearney Marsh.
Photo courtesy of Jim Wright.
Pam tells her children that whenever they feel troubled or lonely they can walk in nature and will always feel better. Pam’s love of the area was slow-learned. She says that she lived by the Meadowlands for a long time before she came to value it.
“I used to long to flee the suburbs,” she says. “I had visions of far off forests and lakes, but I have learned to love what is mine and no longer want to leave.”
Pam’s son Edward sometimes asks his mom “Why are we doing this? People are just going to mess it up again.”
Pam explains to him that they are there to make things better and to set an example for others to do the same. Because of Pam and her children, other parents can bring their kids to enjoy the black raspberries and watch the egrets and damselflies in a cleaner environment. Hopefully the Mistretta’s dedication will inspire others to care about the environment in the same way.
Great Blue Heron at Kearney Marsh.
Photo courtesy of Jim Wright.
Olivia squishes in the mud picking up old fishing line so that the birds won’t get tangled, and Edward whacks at some invasive knotweed. The Mistrettas are helping to improve the environment for all of us and for generations to come.
Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
Thanks Mistrettas. I feel a little better about the future of our environment today thanks to you.
For more info about Kearny Marsh, visit: http://www.njmeadowlands.gov/environment/wetlands/wetlands_sites/kmk.html
Don Torino is the Education Chairperson for Bergen County Audubon Society.
Categories: Don's Jersey Birding
Tags: Meadowlands clean up Kearney Marsh environment American Bittern YellowCrowned Night Heron
Beautiful people inside and out.
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