NJMC Timeline
A New Day in the Meadowlands /Special Photos / Timeline

About the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission

The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, the zoning and planning agency for the 30.4-square-mile Meadowlands District, celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2009.

NJMC, originally known as the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission, has rescued orphan landfills, saved and revitalized thousands of acres of wetlands, and helped generate billions of dollars of private investment in the region.

The Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute, NJMC’s scientific arm, has conducted many studies documenting the region’s environmental recovery – from birds to fish to air quality.

NJMC Timeline of Progress:

1960s and earlier - Haphazard development, environmental contamination and unregulated solid-waste dumping throughout the Meadowlands.
1967 - Gov. Richard Hughes instructs the N.J. Department of Community Affairs to develop a way to reclaim and develop the Meadowlands.
1968 - Legislation is introduced to create the Hackensack Meadowlands Reclamation and Development Act.
1969 - Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission is officially formed.
1970 - HMDC adopts a master plan, imposing the first environmental
controls. HMDC rejects a dumping plan for 440 acres of Lyndhurst wetlands.
1971 - HMDC adopts Sanitary Landfill Regulations, the first of their kind in the state.  HMDC rejects a dumping plan for 864 acres in Kearny.
1972- Lawsuit won preventing the spread of landfills into the wetlands of Kearny that will become the Saw Mill Creek Wildlife Management Area.
1973 - Bergen County’s plan to dump solid waste on 99 acres of wetlands in Lyndhurst is rejected. Rules banning all out-of-state solid waste are adopted.
1974 - The first tax-sharing formula in the District is created.
1975 - HMDC names its proposed park in memory of Assemblyman Richard W. DeKorte, who was instrumental in the passage of the law creating the HMDC.
1976 - The state Solid Waste Management Act is signed into law.
1977 - Commission enters into contract with the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection to study contamination in the Hackensack River estuary.
1978 - Contracts awarded for engineering and landscape architecture design for DeKorte Park.
1979 - Morris County stops sending solid waste to the District.
1980 - Trash compacting baler in North Arlington begins operation.
1981 - HMDC and NJDEP enter into an agreement to provide $1 million from Green Acres funds to help construct the Meadowlands Environment Center.
1982 - Permanent HMDC headquarters opens in DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst. Experiments begin to determine the feasibility of extracting methane gas from the landfills.
1983 - Meadowlands Environment Center opens and begins educational programming for schoolchildren, teachers and the public.
1984 - Agreement reached with Passaic County to cease solid waste disposal in the District in three years.
1985 - Closure and post-closure activities begin on landfills in North Arlington and Kearny. Contracts are awarded for the recovery of methane gas.
1986 - Leachate collection system completed at 1-A landfill in Kearny, preventing contaminants from seeping into the water.
1987 - Native plants, including aspens, reintroduced to the 1-A landfill area. The 1-C landfill in Kearny is closed. Essex and Passaic County dumping ends.
1988 - Bergen County dumping ends. HMDC enters into an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers, EPA and the NJDEP on wetlands management. 
1989 - Commission issues initial report on air quality over landfills in the District.
1990 - HMDC completes closure of its 1-A landfill in Kearny.  A Recycling Grant Program for the District Municipalities is established. 
1991 - Marsh Discovery Trail dedication in Lyndhurst, Losen Slote Creek Park dedication in Little Ferry.
1992 - Lyndhurst Nature Reserve and Transco Trail open. Commission receives the NJ Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ Environmental Enhancement Award.
1993 - Commission enters into agreement with Conrail to accept mitigation funding for wetlands enhancement projects.
1994 - Contracting begins for wetlands enhancement; annually a billion cubic feet of methane gas are collected. The Commission’s first redevelopment study begins in Kearny.
1994 - Contracting begins for wetlands enhancement; 2 billion cubic
feet of methane gas have been collected.
1995 - HMDC acquires wetlands in Ridgefield to restore. North Arlington Scenic Overlook and Laurel Hill County Park Boat Launch are dedicated.
1996 - Commission establishes wetlands mitigation bank. Riverbend wetlands site in Secaucus is acquired.
1997 - HMDC puts an end to the massive dumping of residential solid
waste that came into the district from New Jersey and surrounding areas.
1998 - Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute is created in a Rutgers/HMDC Partnership.
1999 - Meadowlands Conservation Trust signed into law.
2000 - Pontoon boat tours expand, bringing 3,000 people a year down to the river and marshes to see the environmental recovery first-hand.
2001 - HMDC officially changes its name to New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute dedication.
2002 - Mill Creek Marsh Grand Opening. Meadowlands Environment Center Grand Re-opening.
2003 - World Trade Center Memorial at DeKorte Park dedication. First Meadowlands Symposium.
2004 - 1st Annual New Jersey Meadowlands Festival of Birding. Opening of the 7.5-acre Mill Creek Point Park in Secaucus.
2005 - Meadowlands Conservation Trust acquires the 587-acre Empire Tract in Carlstadt. Secaucus High School Marsh restoration planned.
2006 - NJMC launches major program for shared services and equipment among its 14 municipalities. Commission adopts incentives for green building in district.
2007 - MERI study finds that the Hackensack River is getting significantly cleaner. Secaucus High School Marsh enhancement site is completed.
2008 - NJMC opens Center for Environmental and Scientific Education and William D. McDowell Observatory in March. NJMC Business Accelerator launches in October.
2009 - NJMC parnters with Bergen County Audubon to hold regular bird walks. Commission awarded $8.5 million in federal funds for its solar landfill project.

The Future:
The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission will remain committed to helping its 14 municipalities — helping their economic vitality, reducing flooding, closing leaky landfills, preserving open space and revitalizing marshes.

NJMC is also committed to getting the word out: The Meadowlands is a great place to canoe, kayak, hike and observe nature – including butterflies, dragonflies, flowers and more than 260 species of birds.