Wetlands Institute of Stone Harbor Marks its 50th Anniversary

Celebratory Fireworks

Photo by Anna-Louise from Pexels

Julie Mealo serves as a senior home loan consultant for Valley National Bank. Working with buyers in such New Jersey towns as Stone Harbor, Ocean City, Avalon, and Sea Isle City, Julie Mealo supports the Wetlands Institute of Stone Harbor.

The institute was founded in 1969 to address rising levels of pollution, depletion of commercial and recreational fishing, and development’s threat to wetlands. Today it leads efforts to learn more about these fragile ecosystems and conserve them for future generations. 

Starting in 1967, the institute’s founder, Herbert Mills of the World Wildlife Fund, obtained around 10 square miles of bay area and mainland acreage in the Cape May area. These lands are now worth about $5 million in today’s dollars. This territory and later additions became the Cape May Wetlands Wildlife Management Area. Thirty-five acres of it are dedicated to the institute’s research facility, classrooms, auditorium, and aquarium.

For many years Lehigh University maintained a field station here, conducting hundreds of studies of plant and animal life in the tidal basins around Cape May. Many students presented their research findings about shore birds, diamondback terrapins, and other creatures. Events to mark the organization's 50th anniversary include no-admission-fee days on the first Wednesdays of June through September and open houses on selected weekends.