Hackensack, NJ, May 23--Workmen are applying the finishing touches to a newly installed artificial-turf athletic field behind the Lodi Municipal Building, according to NorthJersey.com.
From a distance, Johnson Field in Hackensack is a lush, verdant expanse free of bumps, dips, muddy puddles and bald spots.
But like a toupee, the field is a little too perfect.
Its polyethylene blades of grass reflect the sun a bit too brightly. No yellow patches cry out to be watered. Dig your toes down deep and you won't find cool dirt but black rubber specks about the size of sesame seeds.
Say hello to the local athletic field of the 21st century, a specimen spreading faster than crabgrass.
Towns and school systems throughout the nation are trading in their sod for artificial turf, saying it is far more durable, easier to maintain and a lot safer than the AstroTurf of years past that athletes loved to hate.
The Fort Lee Borough Council voted earlier this month to give the town's school board up to $1.7 million to install synthetic turf. Park Ridge, Oradell and Lodi are in the process of installing faux turfs, and half the dozen schools in the North Bergen Interscholastic League already boast them, along with towns including Wayne, Tenafly and Mahwah.
Fake turf is catching on from the New York City parks to California. The Synthetic Turf Council, an industry group based in Dalton, Ga., estimates that 800 artificial turf fields will be installed in the United States this year, up from about 600 last year and 400 the year before.
The artificial turf industry started taking off about seven years ago, according to Ron VanGelderen, president of the council, spurred by improvements in technology that helped to create much more realistic turf.
"Everybody's going to get them," said Lou Molino, athletic director for the Ramsey school district, which has an artificial turf field. "It's the wave of the future."
Sod growers are beginning to look over their shoulders. Turfgrass Producers International, which represents sod farmers and others who work in the field, appointed a task force last year to investigate the potential damage to market share. The group questions many of the claims made by artificial turf producers, from the cost to the longevity of artificial turf.
Brad Park, sports turf education and research coordinator at the Center for Turfgrass Science at Rutgers University, said the heat generated by artificial turf during hot weather is one important concern.
At Rutgers, he said, the artificial turf is watered regularly to make sure it doesn't get too hot. Another concern is how the fields will be disposed of when they're replaced. Also, little is known about the safety of playing on recycled tire rubber, which is commonly used to fill in the new turfs and which may contain heavy metals, Park said. The Synthetic Turf Council says its members do not use any materials that might be hazardous.
For New Jersey towns and schools, the pros appear to outweigh the cons. The strongest selling point for many is that the fake turf can withstand continuous abuse and still look as fresh as an artificial daisy.
With the growth of girls' sports with Title IX, the federal law that guarantees females equal access to sports in federally funded institutions, and the growing popularity of sports such as soccer and lacrosse, town and school fields are being scheduled beyond the capacity of anything that photosynthesizes for a living.
Before Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes installed artificial turf four years ago, the school limited its grass field to 10 to 15 football and soccer games a year to try to keep it in good shape, said Superintendent Paul Saxton. Now, the field is frequently used for a punishing nine periods of physical education a day, followed by school and community teams.
The surface doesn't look any worse for the wear, Saxton said.
