Spring, At Last

The Canada geese hanging out in the far reaches of what used to be Greystone rise, circle overhead and then land where they started. Some inner voice tells them they have to be going. But they and their forebears have been staying on the fields and office park lawns of Morris County for so long they wouldn't know where to go if they had a GPS strapped to their bills.

Meanwhile, the migrant Canada geese have been heading north in long v-shaped skeins.

Like the local geese, at this time of year I feel a restlessness within. When it was warm in what the calendar said was winter, I went out and cleared much of the debris from my garden so the daffodils that were coming up could be seen.

Then it got cold again. That made the crocuses happy but not me.

Now, it is finally spring in fact, not just on a calendar. The crocuses are done but the daffodils are blooming, the irises are growing and I have put lettuce seeds in a container in the sun, netted to block digging chipmunks.

One particularly nice day I went walking into Greystone, a long walk for the first time in weeks. On this day I was heading to what is now the cross-country running track, part of the Central Park of Morris County.

Yes, the ballfields are still under construction and it still pains me to see them where the other year I was seeing bluebirds, phoebes and Eastern kingbirds catching insects. The ballfields are far from done but the fences are up and that makes them official.

But on the other side of the road, I went down a hill and onto Brook Rd., past an ominous sign saying this was a restricted area. Maybe it was at one time, but the old stone wards are gone and the path now leads to a brook and the cross-country track.

No one was around except a woman with a dog. She saw me and quickly leashed her pet. Considering her leash looked to be 15 yards long, you wonder why she felt the need to let the dog loose. But they quickly passed and as I stood looking around the birds started to come out.

I can see where this could be good habitat. There is a cattail marsh where marsh wrens could breed. There are large swaths of land that will be filled with long grass that, if the county doesn't mow it for a few months, will accommodate bobolinks and meadowlarks.

Already during my walk I've seen a kestrel - an endangered bird in New Jersey because farms where it hunts are becoming housing developments - hover over the field, looking for insects of small birds such as the juncos or chickadees.

It is a good, long path that goes from the brook up a hill where one can go one way to the rink or another along a path where pines felled by Sandy are being cut up.

From the hill I have a wide view of the meadow. In the sun, riding the thermal winds, the local turkey and black vultures fly up from their nearby hangout and circle in great numbers. Over them, hovering against the sky, is a redtailed hawk.

This is certainly a park now, what Morris County intended when it bought the property from the state for $1 and tore down the empty wards. When these stone buildings were still standing this area was quite foreboding. Now, presuming the runners don't disturb the wildlife too much, there are birds and space and light and a refreshing sense of being alone in an otherwise busy world. Even the nearby traffic on Hanover Ave. seems far away.

However, I wonder about the land still owned by New Jersey. The Star-Ledger noted the high cost of renovating the old administration buiding, Kirkbride, and the group Preserve Greystone hopes it can be used for many purposes including "a mental health museum, shops, condominiums and government offices."

Condominiums? Shops? Government offices?

I don't want to see this kind of development, even to save a historic building.

It is bad enough there are ballfields on county-owned land where there were once trees. Behind Kirkbride, on the land still owned by the state, there are two decaying "cottages" and several other empty buildings including some farm buildings. You pass overgrown fields as you drive along Koch Road. What will happen to that land?

There's already much consternation about what's planned for the old Pfizer property on Rte. 53 in Morris Plains: townhouses, homes, shops. Why would turning Kirkbride into condos - more people and their cars - be a good thing?

You can see the Kirkbride building from the track along the brook. You can also see the ballfields. Turn the other way and you can see the Hanover Ave. traffic.

Forgive me if I choose to turn my head and watch the circling vultures in the clear blue. The silence and space in this sunny meadow is a gift I'd rather not lose.