Don’t fall for Essex County’s greenwash of habitat destruction at Turtle Back Zoo | Opinion – NJ.com

By Joyce Rudin

Essex County’s Turtle Back Zoo is using a public relations tactic to greenwash itself. Rather than responding to mass public outcry against the county’s continued land seizure of the South Mountain Reservation, the County adopted a diversionary tactic.

The zoo, under County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo’s direction, strategically announced a very short matching funds relief campaign to save Australian wildlife injured in recent fires.

The irony is not lost on thousands of local conservationists. This same county executive is spending millions of our state and county taxes to destroy local wildlife, delicate species, natural habitat and mature carbon-absorbing trees. The latest expansion proposal includes building a 500-seat outdoor amphitheater to exhibit animals in what is currently our reservation.

In addition to irreplaceable habitat destruction, this will result in more congestion, flooding, noise and light pollution and add to that climate change. No environmental impact statement has been produced.

The zoo already has an appropriately-sized amphitheater. Millions of tax dollars were recently spent on an indoor education center. Professionals say children learn best in smaller settings.

Since 2003, the county has destroyed 25 acres, carving an amusement park out of the reservation by building a zip line, a mini golf course, McLoone’s restaurant and multiple parking lots, all at taxpayer’s expense. Now the county will seize 1.5 acres for this project and another 10 acres in the future. There is no end in sight.

While opposition to the amphitheater grows and environmentalists and students band together under the Coalition to Save South Mountain Reservation, the county quickly published a request for bids to bring in the bulldozers and has already marked the trees for destruction. Clearcutting could begin this spring.

The county is acting on plans to increase attendance at the zoo from an unsustainable 900,000 visitors to a totally unsustainable 1.2 million visitors with an outsized impact on the entire reservation and region.

The reservation was designed for hiking and enjoyment of a natural preserve by the visionary landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted who also designed Central Park.

It was not meant for residents to dodge cars barreling through our community to get to the zoo or to wade through floods caused by excessive tree cutting and over expansion. Residents shouldn’t have to lock their windows tight to avoid the noise pollution caused by constant zoo events or wear sunglasses at night to block the bright lights. This Disneyesque overdevelopment all around the reservation is sacrificing tens of millions of dollars for our real climate crisis in exchange for more for-profit entertainment disguised as “education” that goes directly back into the county’s pocket.

While we endorse any effort to save Australian wildlife and to confront the climate crisis, the county’s attempt to greenwash itself must be seen for the cynical gimmick that it is. True conservation begins at home.

Joyce Rudin is chairwoman of the Coalition to Save South Mountain Reservation.

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