Tenafly has grown a barrier around its Pond to hide pollution, I believe. Originally the idea was to prevent water fowl, that may carry the bacterium e coli from swimming in the Pond by planting bushes and flowers around the pond's perimeter. But the fowl are long gone, eaten by hawks and killed by chemicals and other pollutants in the water. What Tenafly has lost is its Pond, one of the most charming aspects of The Commons, the one park where old and young, visitors and residents, could relax and recreate. When I moved to Tenafly in the early 1970s a few ducks swam in the water in the spring and summer and in the winter the pond froze, making it a lovely natural skating area, used by many of the families of Tenafly. It gave the town an old- fashioned "homey" feel that has been lost as more and more fenced in areas have taken away what was once a the pastoral, the ideal of the greater garden designer Frederick Law Olmsted.
The town residents were never told or consulted about the municipal government's plans for the Pond. But now its policty is apparent. Plants and trees sown in fall 2010 that are inhospitable have completely encircled the pond and threaten to make the pond a marsh as the plants advance into the water. Trees resembling locusts are covered with piercing thorns; wild asters are rampant. Lovely to look at in the early fall, when blossoming, the asters are a menace once the flowers drop and the seeds appear. These too are sharp and attach to clothing and to fur. The height of all these plants is astounding and the pond now can only be viewed from bridges at the east and west ends of the pond. (It is ironic that Tenafly's presence on the Web shows the Pond with cherry trees in bloom and the water clearly visible from all sides.) Pity the child who wanders into this 6 six- foot high jungle and cannot find a path out. How terrifed that youngster would be, especially if it wandered towards the water and fell into the pond. It could not be seen and its parents would be horrified by what had transpired. In fact the paths are gone that ringed the pond last year. Apparently no thought was given by the Town Council, the Mayor and garden maintenance to what could happen, what dangers existed in this absurd growth. If the aim was to prevent refuse from falling into the pond, the plan has failed. There is refuse at present; the same plastic bags and bottles are still bobbing around in the water and green tennis balls too. The oxygen in the pond is low as algae bloom attests and as always there are chemical flows that can be observed on the water's surface. As the Council and Mayor may know, the wildlife that once lived in the pond is dead and despite the attempt to plant some flowers to "prettify" the greenery, the birds that once lived in the pond area are gone as are the turtles, the fish--except for a few goldfish that were dropped into the pond to give it a semblance of life-- and most notable of all is the loss of butterflies. These have been eaten by carnivorous dragon flies. Yes there are many bees and that is a good thing, but for most persons who would like to look at the water as they were once able to do, the bees will certainly give them pause. Local towns such as Demarest have solved the goose problem and today their waterway, the Tenakill Brook, looks lovely. The government in Demarest planted aroudn the perimeter but did not use overkill to keep the birds at bay. Tenafly has gone over the top and now we truly have a mess that few in Tenafly enjoy. How many people want to see "weeds" where once they could sit at their ease and gaze at the floating world, the water with all its reflections.
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