Adventures in the Wild East

Out here in LaLa land we still think we can preserve some wild spaces for future generations unsullied by human presences, but ecosystemists Back East don't have that luxury--and we might pay attention to the way nature and culture mix around in the big burgs of New Jersey and New York. As I strolled to the Student Center at Marist College yesterday morning, looking for coffee, I ran into a very wide fellow:

Marmota monax Courtesy Thinkquest

Woodchucks, or whistling pigs, or groundhogs, are pests in the Hudson River Valley but I thought this one was pretty neat; I took pictures like a tourist at the Zoo. Remembering Thoreau's ramblings on the species, I thought of a fricassee, maybe. But they're still around, digging holes in all the wrong places, and people put up with them. The wild things are still about, even in the midst of some of the most urbanized space on earth. On the drive up to the college we rode over the New Jersey Meadowlands in its full summer greenery--one of the most astounding wetlands I have seen, and it's still there in the middle of everyone's neighborhood. Beautiful back East, in the summer, in the mix of wild and civilized we can only hope to become.

The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission