Wetland inspiration
Phil Broder serves as the director of education at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor. The institute combines cutting edge research and conservation education with fun, shore-centric entertainment for visitors of all ages, from guided beach walks and marsh boat cruises to Wings and Water, the big wildlife arts and crafts fair every September. The rambling shingle-style building, built in 1972, is modeled after an historic Coast Guard lifesaving station, complete with visitor-friendly lookout tower. at the institute.

How and when did the Wetlands Institute start?
Back in the ’60s a bunch of developers wanted to fill in the marshland for real estate. A local guy named Herb Mills became alarmed, got some friends together to pool funds and purchase 6,000 acres of wetlands. They wound up donating most of it back to the state. It’s been added to and now it’s the Cape May Coastal Wetlands Wildlife Management Area, all state property. We kept out a couple dozen acres for our facility, which is a private, non-government organization. We have a trail out into the marsh, which was once a construction road to drive bulldozers on. Isn’t that great?

Interesting. Forgive the ignorant question, but how do you define a wetland?
There’s a U.S. Government-approved definition, but what it boils down to is: Land that’s wet. We’re focused mainly on the coastal marshes running from the Meadowlands to Cape May, those nice big grassy areas between the shoreline and the Garden State Parkway. Coastal wetlands encompass varied terrain. The grassy areas are solid, the waterways are tidal.

Most people think of these wetlands just as places you have to get through to get to the beach. They’re neglected spaces that no one pays attention to. But they’re really essential to life on this planet.

In what way?
These spaces are giving us clean water. And they’re the basis for our state’s commercial and recreational fishing industry. About two thirds of our commercially caught fish spend part of their lives in the salt marsh. It’s a fish nursery. There’s a whole ecosystem in there — aquatic animals, birds, plants.

How do these marshes give us clean water?
Wetlands are big filters. Everything that gets flushed or washed away winds up in the water. As it passes through the mud and plants out here, it gets filtered before going back into the ground. Everyone should find out where their water comes from. Most people have no idea. They should also find out where it goes. Everything that gets flushed in Philadelphia ends up in Delaware Bay and eventually down here in South Jersey. As the old saying goes, everyone lives downstream from someone.

What exactly does the Wetlands Institute do?
Our mission is to promote understanding, appreciation and stewardship of wetlands and coastal ecosystems through programs in research, education and conservation. We have more than 40,000 visitors each year taking tours, looking at exhibits and joining our programs. Tons of school kids, of course.

You’ll find exhibits, displays, boat tours, kayaking, canoeing and a small, but fun aquarium with the best-trained octopus on the shore. (She opens up peanut butter jars to get her food.) In summer there’s a different live “creature feature” every day — starfish, crab, dolphin, etc. We have a variety of school programs that correlate with the state curriculum, from wetlands ecology to beach exploration, preschool to high school.
Our focus is regional, but we do research studies up and down the East Coast, including a project in Florida. Even international interns work here, then take back to their countries the conservation skills they’ve learned.

Not to brag, but we are the world’s foremost experts on the diamondback terrapin. We have a special terrapin recovery and conservation program. This aquatic turtle is the only NJ reptile in the salt marsh.

Read the entire interview in the expanded summer issue of New Jersey Countryside Magazine. Click here to get one free bonus issue and save more than 80% on a subscription.