From The Bergen Record, Wednesday, April 22, 1998

Taking a Walk on N.J.'s Wild Side

By Blanca A. Nieves
Staff Writer

Suppose you want to know where to find the 10 most beautiful open spaces in New Jersey. Or you're curious to know which of the Garden State's endangered species are staging a comeback, or what kind of fish and waterfowl inhabit the Hackensack and Passaic rivers.
This information and more is available starting today on a new Internet site called Wild New Jersey, launched in honor of Earth Day.
The site, sponsored by Comcast Online, is devoted to wildlife and conservation issues in the Garden State. But it also includes some recreation information, feature articles, opinion pieces, a monthly events calendar, a chat room, and an extensive contact list.
It caters not only to outdoors enthusiasts and environmentalists, but to anyone seeking information on New Jersey's natural environment, said Karen Siletti, one of the editors of the site.
"We hope the site increases awareness of our natural resources, but that it also becomes a terrific venue of information for teachers, kids, parents, or any agency that wants a window on the topic," Siletti said.
Included in the site is a listing of the 65 wildlife management areas in New Jersey and some information on the state's parks, beaches, and rivers. There is an article on the 10 most beautiful places, another on endangered species, and information from the state Department of Fish, Game, and Wildlife.
The extensive contact list provides 150 links -- to sites on everything from ecotourism to weather to the latest information on Lyme disease. It includes both local and national environmental and conservation groups.
The developers of the site -- Siletti, James Irwin, and Lynda Hester D'Orio -- said that when they came up with idea about a year ago they hoped to fill a void on the World Wide Web.
"On-line publishers see a strong need for specialty or niche publications on the Web. We thought this one would generate a lot of interest," said Irwin, a managing editor at Comcast Online.
Wild New Jersey is linked with Comcast's on-line publication InTheGardenState.com, which provides general interest information about New Jersey.
More than 90 percent of Wild New Jersey deals with local wildlife or conservation issues, said D'Orio, a producer for Comcast Corp. and one of the editors of the site.
"The other 10 percent covers national and global issues," said D'Orio. "We're hoping to generate a lot of feedback and discussion through the chat rooms and we will be responding to the input from the public."
Siletti and D'Orio will be generating their own original material, but will also include some newspaper and magazine articles.
The two are also developing other features, such as providing some digitized video of animals.
"Imagine being able to call up the site and seeing a peregrine falcon nesting," said Siletti. "That is the sort of thing we'd like to provide."
The site can be accessed at www.wildnj.com.

Submit an Article
Suggest a Link
Send the Editors a Letter

A Walk on NJ's Wild Side
Explore NJ Wildlife - Beyond Pigeons
Getting Wild on the Web

Lynda Hester D'Orio
Karen L. Siletti