When Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt saw the World Trade Center towers from the bow of the Secaucus Fire Department boat last month, several people heard him laugh. It was one of those odd sights that most newcomers to the Hackensack Meadowlands find incongruous at first: how could someone be out in the middle of what was clearly a wilderness area and still see the New York City skyline? “We took him on a tour that went from the Saw Mill Wildlife refuge to the Hackensack River Bridge,” said Hackensack Riverkeeper Bill Sheehan. “It was too cold for a long ride, but he could see that the habitat was returning. We saw hunters out on the marsh, and waterfowl such as a great blue heron and some cormorants. He could see what was happening and he seemed impressed. But what I think he liked most is when we came within sight of the World Trade Center.” The tour was part of a study of local wetlands and open space preservation, a hush-hush visit to give Babbitt first hand information about what was going on in this part of the county. Babbitt has been credited with opening new chapters in conservation history, in an effort not merely to preserve open space, but leading a movement that he calls “American Restoration.” He also has been credited with breathing new life into the federal Endangered Species Act with innovative use of Habitat Conservation Plans and recovery plans that have resulted in delisting the peregrine falcon, the Aleutian Canada goose, the bald eagle and the gray wolf. He personally brought the first wolf back to Yellowstone. “What killed the waterfront was that no one owned the waters; so everyone felt free to dump as much trash and toxic chemicals and sewage as they pleased,” Babbitt wrote in an essay on the Clean Water Act. “Land values on shore fell as buildings were abandoned, boarded up, and left to rot. But the timeless waters remained, waiting to be rediscovered. And when the Clean Water Act prompted cities to begin the cleanup, the people came, eager to feel, to taste, to explore and to recreate with the healing and transforming powers of water