Hackensack Riverkeeper to Present at the Montclair Bird Club

Less than 10 miles away from the hustle and bustle of New York City, the Hackensack watershed offers a great variety of wildlife within reach of literally millions of people.

Captain Hugh Carola, Program Director for the Hackensack Riverkeeper, will share many of his experiences and insights on the changing ecosystem of what was once considered an industrial wasteland, but is undergoing a successful restoration, on Wednesday evening, November 12, at 7:30 p.m. The monthly meeting of the Montclair Bird Club will take place at the Union Congregational Church in Montclair.

Carola has been program director for the Hackensack Riverkeeper for 25 years and will present a program on the Flora and Fauna of the Hackensack watershed.

Carola holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Ramapo College of New Jersey. Shortly after graduating, he took up birding and nature study, developing an avocation as an environmental activist that included ten years as president of The Fyke Nature Association (1993 – 2002). He was also a founding member of the Bergen Open Space Coalition (BOSCo), the group that helped establish the Bergen County Open Space, Recreation, Historic and Farmland Preservation Trust in 1998.

Carola’s avocation became his career in July 1999 when he was hired as Coordinator of the Hackensack Meadowlands Preservation Alliance (HMPA). Under Hugh’s leadership, the HMPA grew from twelve members to a coalition over one hundred groups by January 2001. Since then Hugh has served as Hackensack Riverkeeper program director, overseeing the organization’s Eco-Programs.

He holds a 25-ton Master’s License from the U.S. Coast Guard and conducts well over 120 Eco-Cruises annually aboard the Riverkeeper vessel Robert H. Boyle. Hugh is also the organization’s wordsmith, writing or editing the majority of Hackensack Riverkeeper’s press releases, policy documents, newsletter articles and official correspondence. He also leads the Hackensack RiverCreepers during the NJ Audubon Society’s World Series of Birding; and administers the Ron Vellekamp Environmental Scholarship.

In addition to his work at Hackensack Riverkeeper, Carola continues to serves the environmental community as a volunteer, most prominently with ANJEE – The Alliance for NJ Environmental Education. He has served for many years on the Conference Committee; and received an Outstanding Environmental Educator award in 2005.

Carola is the current ANJEE President through July 2015. He serves as Hackensack Riverkeeper’s representative to the NY/NJ Harbor Herons & Colonial Waterbirds Working Group, Nature Program Cooperative; and has been a trustee of The Fyke Nature Association since 1993.

The Montclair Bird Club holds regular meetings at 7:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month, except December, July and August, at the Union Congregational Church, 176 Cooper Avenue, Upper Montclair. The meetings are open to the public. There is no admission fee. For further information, contact Wayne Greenstone 908-276-4605.

Information and photo courtesy of The Montclair Bird Club