page_title: Berrys Creek
section_title: Wildlife
hierarchical_section_title: Berrys Creek / Wildlife
caption_attribution_description: English: Food web illustration for Berry&#39;s Creek, in the New Jersey Meadowlands. (FPOM = fine particulate organic matter)
context_page_description: Berry's Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River in the New Jersey Meadowlands in Bergen County, New Jersey. The creek watershed contains a diverse array of wetlands, marshes, and wildlife. The creek runs through a densely populated region and has been subject to extensive industrial pollution during the 19th and 20th centuries. Several companies discharged toxic chemicals into the creek in the 20th century, and these chemicals have remained in the sediment. The creek has the highest concentrations of methyl mercury of any fresh-water sediment in the world. Portions of the creek watershed are Superfund sites and cleanup projects began in the late 20th century.
context_section_description: Through the early 1900s, the predominant plants in the watershed were freshwater species such as cattails and Atlantic white cedar. The plant composition began to change after construction of the Oradell Dam on the Hackensack River in 1921. The dam was built at the head of tide, which increased the salinity of Berry's Creek, and since then the marsh vegetation in has been composed predominately of Phragmites (Phragmites australis).
  Berry's Creek harbors the last remaining northern harrier nest site in the Meadowlands. It is heavily used by wintering raptors. "The marshes of the Meadowlands provide many important wetland functions. More than 265 species of birds use the area, and the Meadowlands is recognized as a major link along the Atlantic Flyway for migratory species (especially shorebirds) and an important overwintering area for a variety of waterfowl...  Waterway-associated birds occurring in the region include a variety of shorebirds, wading birds, waterfowl, and gulls."
  Significant fish species in the Meadowlands region are mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus), white perch (Morone americana), Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia), gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), striped killifish (Fundulus majalis), and striped bass (Morone saxatilis). In November 1991 a water sample survey found high levels of the metallic element chromium in the hepatopancreas of the local blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) population. NJDEP has issued advisories warning against harvesting or eating blue crabs from Berry's Creek, the entire Hackensack River watershed and Newark Bay.
caption: Food web in Berry's Creek
exif: {}