This Day in History: 1954-02-26
Clifford Mische, the Bergen County Park Commissioner promised that the new Fyke County Park in Mahwah and Franklin Lakes would be kept perpetually wild and be preserved as a wildlife sanctuary. Area residents had been promised two years earlier, when the land acquisition was in the planning stage, that the park would never be turned into an amusement park. Many present at the open meeting of the Fyke Nature Association held in Ramsey were relieved to have this assurance repeated now that the land had been purchased by the County. The Fyke club had been formed two years earlier to survey the area and make recommendations concerning particularly important areas to concentrate on in protecting its wildlife and attracting more. The Club was waiting for the arrival of contour so that they could propose the layout of nature trails. Guy Nearing of Ramsey a well-known naturalist, who had laid out the nature trails at the Greenbrook Sanctuary along the Palisades, praised the Park Commission. He joined others in rejoicing that this wonderful area would be protected “for all time from destruction for either industrial or residential purposes. (Unfortunately a significant portion of the park, now called Campgaw, has been taken over for the construction of Interstate 287.)
eastern part of the park, including the campground
(Bristow)