The keeper of Allendale's Celery Farm Nature Preserve is gone, but his legacy lives on

ALLENDALE — Former Marsh Warden Stiles Thomas was so confident of the restorative powers of the borough's Celery Farm Nature Preserve that when asked if dolphins had found their way to its lake some 17 miles from the ocean, he joked: "Never saw one, but maybe it hasn't come up for air yet."

In 1981, Thomas collaborated with then-Mayor Edward FitzPatrick to create what was then the nation's first municipally owned wetlands, a 60-acre former celery farm gradually enlarged to what is now a 107-acre preserve. Thomas then served 26 years as the borough's first marsh warden.

After his death in May at age 99, volunteers are planning several tributes in his honor.

First, a rock monument with a plaque was installed last month at Phair's Pond at the northern side of the mile-long circle path around the perimeter of the wetlands, inscribed: "In memory of Stiles Thomas, the one and only."

"We will eventually have a QR code installed on the monument so visitors can find out more about Stiles' history and contributions," said Deputy Marsh Warden Jim Wright.

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Second, a pollinator garden has been approved by borough officials for installation in front of the Allendale Library on West Crescent Avenue this fall by Girl Scout Maggie Shaw as her Gold Award project. It will include indigenous plantings as well as a bluebird sculpture in tribute to Thomas' campaign to restore its numbers in western New Jersey.

"The Allendale Garden Club is advising me," said Maggie, a Northern Highlands senior. "I will be fundraising, taking plant donations, and I'm also recruiting friends and girls in my troop to help with the planting process, hopefully by October."

Long history

Thomas, son of former mayor and seven-term Rep. J. Parnell Thomas, lived most of his life on East Allendale Avenue near what had been the Appert Celery Farm since the 1880s. After service in World War II, Thomas opened what is now the Thomas, Freeman and Giglio Insurance Agency in the white triangle building at 111 W. Allendale Ave.

After hours, Thomas devoted himself to conservation efforts, primarily focused on birds. In the 1950s he was known as the "Blue Bird Man" for building and installing hundreds of birdhouses to repopulate western New Jersey with bluebirds, decimated by the pesticide DDT. He started the first hawk watch at Mount Peter, New York, in 1957. He supervised the watch for migrating hawks at State Line Lookout in Alpine, and led birding trips to Belize in the Caribbean for 20 years.

Thomas also served as treasurer of the New Jersey Audubon Society and was honored by the group as Conservationist of the Year.

When the Celery Farm was proposed for sale in 1956, Thomas contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, urging it to acquire the site as a preserve, citing the 200 species of birds found there, including the endangered peregrine falcon and bald eagle. Thomas was turned down at the time because of the cost.

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It was not until 1981 that Thomas and FitzPatrick were finally able to combine with the New Jersey Conservation Foundation and Green Acres funding to purchase the property for $170,000, making Allendale the first municipality in the United States to buy wetlands for preservation as open space.

The Celery Farm was taken up by volunteers of the Fyke Nature Association, bird-watchers and conservationists who led tours, built trails and observation platforms, and restored habitat under Thomas' leadership. When increased wetlands buffer laws took effect in the 1980s, developers found it to their advantage to donate unbuildable sections of property bordering the Celery Farm as part of their applications, adding to its acreage.

Mayor Amy Wilzynski called Thomas "a true Allendale gem."

"He was funny, caring and loved everything about animals and nature," she said. "He will be missed."

Daughter Betsy Thomas said her father was a birder to the last.

"Up until he died, if there was a bird in the yard he was at the window, pointing it out," she said. "He most enjoyed getting other people involved. He wanted everyone to see it."

Wright said Thomas was particularly proud of restoring the red-shouldered hawk to the preserve but was also "good at getting people involved" on his yearly bird-watching expeditions to Belize with his dry sense of humor.

"If we came across a pair of copulating birds, he'd advise us to avert our eyes while the birds shook hands," Wright said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Keeper of Allendale's Celery Farm is gone, but his legacy lives on