Liberty State Park to create 234-acre refuge for wildlife

A fenced-off, long-contaminated chunk of Liberty State Park is about to get a face-lift to become what federal and state officials are calling an urban wildlife refuge.

The $32 million project is not a cleanup. It's a green makeover, with 234 acres of wasteland in the middle of the 1,100-acre park getting remodeled into a mixture of freshwater wetlands, grasslands, hardwood forests and a salt-water marsh.

"The project could start as early as the next three to four months," said Col. Aniello Tortora of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers yesterday, as he joined a host of state and federal officials atop the Liberty Science Center's glass tower in Jersey City. The venue offered an unobstructed view of the property, which has been reclaimed by a mix of native and invasive trees and grasses since it was fenced off to the public decades ago.