The New Jersey Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands or simply the Pines, is the largest remaining example of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecosystem, stretching across more than seven counties of New Jersey. Two other large, contiguous examples of this ecosystem remain in the northeastern United States: the Long Island Central Pine Barrens and the Massachusetts Coastal Pine Barrens. The name pine barrens refers to the area's sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soil. Although European settlers could not cultivate their familiar crops there, the unique ecology of the Pine Barrens supports a diverse spectrum of plant life, including orchids and carnivorous plants. The area is also notable for its populations of rare pygmy pitch pines and other plant species that depend on the frequent fires of the Pine Barrens to reproduce. The sand that composes much of the area's soil is referred to by the locals as sugar sand.
The Pine Barrens remains mostly rural and undisturbed despite its proximity to the sprawling metropolitan cities of Philadelphia and New York City, in the center of the very densely populated Boston-Washington Corridor on the Eastern Seaboard. The heavily traveled Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City Expressway traverse sections of the eastern and southern Pine Barrens, respectively. The Pine Barrens territory helps recharge the 17-trillion-US-gallon (64-billion-cubic-metre) Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer, containing some of the purest water in the United States. [1] [2]
As a result of all these factors, in 1978, Congress passed legislation to designate 1.1 million acres (4,500 km2; 1,700 sq mi) of the Pine Barrens as the Pinelands National Reserve (the nation's first National Reserve) to preserve its ecology. A decade later, it was designated by the United Nations as an International Biosphere Reserve. Development in the Pinelands National Reserve is strictly controlled by an independent state/federal agency, the New Jersey Pinelands Commission.
The Pinelands Reserve contains the Wharton, Brendan T. Byrne (formerly Lebanon), Penn, and Bass River state forests. The reserve also includes two National Wild and Scenic Rivers: the Maurice [3] and the Great Egg Harbor. [4]
John McPhee's 1967 book The Pine Barrens focuses on the history and ecology of the region.
Between 170–200 million years ago, the Atlantic coastal plain began to form.
The Barrens formed in the southernmost and newest land area in New Jersey 1.8 to 65 million years ago, during the Tertiary era.
Over millions of years, the rising and falling of the coastline deposited minerals underground, culminating with the end of the last ice age about 12,000 years ago, when plants and trees began growing in what is now New Jersey.
Forest fires have been a common occurrence since before habitation by humans. Fire has played a major ecological role in the Pinelands, and the ecotypes "suggest that short fire intervals may have been typical in the Pine Plains for many centuries, or millennia." [5]
Around 10,000 years ago, the ancestors of the Lenape people first inhabited the Pine Barrens.[ citation needed ]
The fire regime before European settlement is poorly understood. [5] Scholars know that the Lenape tribes burned the woods in the spring and fall to reduce underbrush, and improve plant yields and hunting conditions. [6] The Pine Barrens, with its sandy soil, did not attract a permanent agriculture population (whose main interest would have been to establish permanent boundaries and clear the forests for fields). [7] The area's sparse population encouraged a long-lasting attitude that forest fires should be set for local benefit—even on the lands of others. For instance, it was profitable for charcoal burners to set fires deliberately, in order to make the trees useless for any purpose other than charcoal making, then purchase the trees for a discount. [7]
During the 17th century, the area that is now New Jersey was explored and settled by the Swedish and Dutch, who developed whaling and fishing settlements mainly along the Delaware River. The English claimed the area as of 1606 under their London Company, and the Dutch abandoned their claim to the English in 1664. The first shipbuilding operations began in the Pine Barrens in 1688, utilizing the cedar, oak, and pitch trees, as well as local tar and turpentine. The first sawmills and gristmills opened around 1700, leading to the first European settlements in the Pinelands. [8] [9]
During the colonial era, the Pine Barrens was the location of various industries. [10] In 1740, charcoal operations began in the Pine Barrens, and the first iron furnace opened in 1765. [9] Bog iron was mined from bogs, streams, and waterways, and was worked in about 35 furnaces [11] including Batsto, Lake Atsion, Hampton Furnace in Shamong, [10] Hanover Furnace in Pemberton, [12] Ferrago in Lacey, and several other locations. [13] Iron from these early furnaces was instrumental in supplying the American military with weapons and camp tools during the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Second Barbary War. For example, Commodore Stephen Decatur Jr. sailed to Algiers armed with 24-pound cannons that had been cast at Hanover in 1814. [14]
The first Indian reservation in the Americas was founded Brotherton in 1758, in what is now Indian Mills in Shamong Township. In 1778 during the Revolutionary War, the British burned and pillaged the village of Chestnut Neck in a failed attempt to destroy the ironworks at Batsto Village. In 1799 after the war, the first glassworks opened in Port Elizabeth, and by that time, whaling operations had stopped. The first cotton mill in the Pine Barrens opened in 1810 at Retreat. Cultivated cranberry bogs begin in the 1830s, and in 1832, the first paper mill opened in the region. In 1854, the first railroad across the Pinelands opened, connecting Camden and the newly-established Atlantic City. Railroads soon connected the various small towns that existed across the Pine Barrens. [9]
In 1869, the bog iron industry ended in the Pine Barrens, [9] after the discovery that iron ore could be mined more cheaply in Pennsylvania. Other industries such as paper mills, sawmills, and gristmills rose and fell throughout the years, catering chiefly to local markets. Smaller industries such as charcoal-making and glassmaking also were developed, meeting with varying degrees of success. Over time, however, the forest reclaimed almost all traces of the Pine Barrens' industrial past. Ghost towns—remnants of villages built around these former industries—can still be found at various locations. Batsto Village has been restored to its mid-19th century state as a state historic site.
The Pine Barrens were home to many rural, backwoods families. For years, residents of the rural area were called "Pineys" by outsiders, as a derogatory term. Today many Pinelands residents are proud of both the name and the land on which they live. [15] In the early 20th century, a family identified in a case study by the pseudonym, the Kallikaks, were presented as an example of genetic inferiority by eugenicists. Today, scholars understand that the facts in the Kallikaks study were misrepresented, including photographs altered to make the family members appear more backward. [16]
On July 12, 1928, the Mexican aviator and national hero Emilio Carranza crashed and was killed in Tabernacle, New Jersey, while returning from a historic goodwill flight from Mexico City to the United States. Flying back from Long Island, he encountered a thunderstorm and crashed in Burlington County. A 12 ft (3.6 m) monument identifies the location of the crash.
Despite rapid urbanization of surrounding areas, the Pine Barrens remained largely untouched because its sandy soil was unsuitable for growing most crops. Its iron and charcoal deposits did not compete with more readily accessible deposits elsewhere. In 1969, the Pine Barrens averaged a density of 15 inhabitants per square mile (5.8/km2), compared with 1,000 inhabitants per square mile (390/km2) in the lands bordering it. With rising environmental concerns at the time, people became alerted to the possible destruction of the Pine Barrens and its aquifer by urban sprawl.
State authorities in the region discussed plans to construct a jetport and associated city in the Pine Barrens to alleviate congestion at other major regional airports of the Mid-Atlantic. The low cost of land and lower incidence of fog in the area made the plan appealing. [17]
Congress created the New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve, the country's first National Reserve, to protect the area under the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978.
The surviving Medford office of Dr. James Still, the 19th century "Black Doctor of the Pines", was purchased for preservation by the State of New Jersey in 2006. Today it is the Dr. James Still Historic Office Site and Education Center. [18]
The reserve contains Wharton State Forest, Brendan T. Byrne State Forest, Bass River State Forest, and Penn State Forest. [19] The Pinelands was designated a U.S. Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1983 and an International Biosphere Reserve in 1988. [20]
Howard P. Boyd was instrumental in working to preserve the Pine Barrens and educate visitors. He died in December 2011, within the Protection Area of the Pinelands National Reserve. [21]
The Pine Barrens gave rise to the legend of the Jersey Devil, said to have been born in 1735 to a local woman named Mrs. Leeds in an area known as Leeds Point. It was said that he was her 13th child and, because of the unlucky number, he was cursed. Another story says that the mother gave birth to a hideous monster that attacked her and her nurses, before flying up and out of the chimney and disappearing into the Barrens. [22] The Devil is said to roam the Pine Barrens, with many sharing stories of encounters with the Devil during dark nights in the Pinelands. [23]
Pine Barrens folklore also includes the ghost of the "Black Doctor", the ghost of Captain Kidd, the "Black Dog", and various other ghosts, as well as folklore associated with the Blue Hole and other so-called "blue holes" in the Pine Barrens.
The New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve contains approximately 1.1 million acres (4,500 km2) of land, and occupies 22% of New Jersey's land area, including territory of much of seven counties. Counties affected by the act are Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Ocean. The Pine Barrens comprise a major part of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion.
Although natural fires have occurred, evidence shows that most fires in the region are of human origin. [7]
The Pine Barrens of New Jersey are in the transition zone between humid subtropical and humid continental climates. The Pine Barrens, however, have a microclimate that allows for a shorter frost-free season, and colder nighttime temperatures compared to most of New Jersey. Because of sandy soil and very little development, clear and calm nights can get much colder in the Pine Barrens than in the surrounding areas. On an average night, a 6 to 8 °F (3.3 to 4.4 °C) difference is commonly seen, but the change can be as much as 10 °F (5.6 °C). [24]
The Pine Barrens receives annual snowfall, varying from 15 to 21 inches (380 to 530 mm) throughout the Pinelands (the northern pinelands receive the most snowfall, on average). [25] Summers are typically hot and humid, and winters are typically cold, and fall/spring are milder transition seasons. Frost can be seen in fall, spring, and winter. In the Pine Barrens, frost occurs earlier in the fall and later in the spring than the surrounding areas due to the sandy soil. [24]
The average annual precipitation in the Pinelands is from 42 to 46 inches (1,100 to 1,200 mm), but year-to-year precipitation varies greatly. Thunderstorms are frequent in the warmer months, along with strong winds and heavy rains from these storms. [26]
Climate data for 7 mi NNE Batsto Village, Wharton State Forest, Burlington County, NJ (1981 – 2010 averages). | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 42.1 (5.6) | 45.3 (7.4) | 52.9 (11.6) | 64.1 (17.8) | 73.9 (23.3) | 82.5 (28.1) | 86.6 (30.3) | 85.2 (29.6) | 78.8 (26.0) | 67.8 (19.9) | 57.4 (14.1) | 46.3 (7.9) | 65.3 (18.5) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 32.7 (0.4) | 35.2 (1.8) | 42.2 (5.7) | 52.4 (11.3) | 62.0 (16.7) | 71.2 (21.8) | 75.8 (24.3) | 74.3 (23.5) | 67.4 (19.7) | 56.0 (13.3) | 46.8 (8.2) | 36.9 (2.7) | 54.5 (12.5) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 23.4 (−4.8) | 25.1 (−3.8) | 31.6 (−0.2) | 40.8 (4.9) | 50.1 (10.1) | 59.8 (15.4) | 65.0 (18.3) | 63.4 (17.4) | 56.0 (13.3) | 44.3 (6.8) | 36.1 (2.3) | 27.5 (−2.5) | 43.7 (6.5) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 3.50 (89) | 2.82 (72) | 4.40 (112) | 3.94 (100) | 3.92 (100) | 3.82 (97) | 4.38 (111) | 4.43 (113) | 3.80 (97) | 3.51 (89) | 3.45 (88) | 3.84 (98) | 45.81 (1,166) |
Average relative humidity (%) | 64.7 | 62.1 | 59.0 | 58.8 | 62.9 | 67.3 | 68.3 | 70.5 | 71.1 | 69.6 | 67.5 | 67.4 | 65.8 |
Source: PRISM Climate Group [27] |
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Average Dew Point °F | 22.1 | 23.5 | 28.9 | 38.4 | 49.2 | 59.8 | 64.6 | 64.1 | 57.7 | 46.2 | 36.6 | 27.1 | 43.3 |
Average Dew Point °C | 0.4 | 1.8 | 5.7 | 11.3 | 16.7 | 21.8 | 24.3 | 23.5 | 19.7 | 13.3 | 8.2 | 2.7 | 12.5 |
Source = PRISM Climate Group [27] |
The Pine Barrens is home to at least 850 species of plants, [28] of which 92 are considered threatened and endangered. [29] Several species of orchids, including the pink lady's slipper, are native to the Pine Barrens. [30] The region hosts more than 20 species of wild berries, including wild raisin, red chokeberry, highbush blueberry, huckleberry, bearberry, and cranberry. [31]
The forest communities are strongly influenced by fire, varying from dwarf pine forests less than 4 feet (120 cm) tall where fires are frequent, to pine forests, to oak forests where fires are rare. Dark swamps of Atlantic white cedar grow along the waterways.
Forest fires play an important role in regulating the growth of plants in the Pine Barrens. Frequent light fires tend to reduce the amount of undergrowth and promote the growth of mature trees. Forest fires have contributed to the dominance of pitch pine in the Pine Barrens. They can resist and recover quickly from fire by resprouting directly through their bark (something very unusual for pines) and frequent killing fires keep an area covered with small sprouts. [32] Their serotinous pine cones open only after having been heated by a fire. [7] [33]
The prevalence of forest fire allows the pitch pines to dominate over oaks, which by comparison are usually killed outright by a moderate or intense fire. High air temperatures and dry plant undergrowth contribute to the intensity of the fire. While uncommon, severe fires at fairly frequent intervals can eliminate species that do not bear seed at an early age.
Efforts to battle forest fire attract debate over how to best preserve the Pine Barrens. While fires constitute a danger to property and inhabitants, preservationists argue that eliminating forest fires would cause the Pine Barrens to become dominated by oak trees. A few areas which had previously consisted of scrub and pitch pine have become dominated by oak trees because of intervention after settlement to reduce the frequency of forest fires. [34]
The Pine Barrens is home to at least 39 species of mammals, over 300 species of birds, 59 reptile and amphibian species, and 91 fish species. [35] At least 43 species are considered threatened and endangered by the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife, [36] including the rare eastern timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) and bald eagles. [37]
A threatened species of frog, the Pine Barrens tree frog, has a disjunct population there. [38] American black bears are finding their way back into the Pine Barrens after a history of hunting and trapping had driven them out. [39]
Believed to have been extirpated from the state by 1970 due to destruction of its territory and human encroachment, the bobcat gained legal protection in 1972. It is classified as a game species with a closed season; in 1991 it was added to the list of endangered species in New Jersey. Between 1978 and 1982, the state introduced 24 bobcats from Maine into the northern portion of the state. Since 1996, they have been monitored by biologists with the aid of GPS transmitters in order to determine habitat ranges and preferences. [40]
A scent-post survey in 1995 proved bobcat presence in four northern counties. There have been reliable sightings of the bobcat in nine additional (mostly southern) counties, including those encompassing large swathes of the Pine Barrens and others skirting it, namely: Atlantic, Burlington, Cape May, Cumberland, Ocean, and Salem counties. [41]
Industries in the Pine Barrens are primarily related to agriculture and tourism.
New Jersey produces the third-highest number of cranberries in the country, mostly cultivated in the areas around Chatsworth, including Whitesbog. The first cultivated blueberries were developed in the Pine Barrens in 1916 through the work of Elizabeth White of Whitesbog, and blueberry farms are nearly as common as cranberry bogs in the area. Most blueberry farms are found in and around the town of Hammonton.
In South Jersey and Philadelphia folklore in the United States, the Jersey Devil, also known as the Leeds Devil, is a legendary creature said to inhabit the forests of the Pine Barrens in South Jersey. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many variations. The common description is that of a bipedal kangaroo-like or wyvern-like creature with a horse- or goat-like head, leathery bat-like wings, horns, small arms with clawed hands, legs with cloven hooves, and a forked or pointed tail. It is also said that it has a strange elongated body and a thick tail. It has been reported to move quickly and is often described as emitting a high-pitched "blood-curdling scream".
South Jersey comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located between Pennsylvania and the lower Delaware River to its west, the Atlantic Ocean to its east, Delaware to its south, and Central Jersey or North Jersey to its north, depending on the definition of North Jersey.
The Mullica River is a 50.6-mile-long (81.4 km) river in southern New Jersey in the United States. The Mullica was once known as the Little Egg Harbor River.
Wharton State Forest is the largest state forest in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the largest single tract of land in the state park system of New Jersey, encompassing approximately 122,880 acres (497.3 km2) of the Pinelands northeast of Hammonton. Its protected acreage is divided between Burlington, Camden, and Atlantic counties. The entire forest is located within the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion as well as the New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve. The forest is located in the forested watershed of the Mullica River, which drains the central Pinelands region into the Great Bay. The forest is under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.
The Atlantic coastal pine barrens is a now rare temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the Northeast United States distinguished by unique species and topographical features, generally nutrient-poor, often acidic soils and a pine tree distribution once controlled by frequent fires.
Pine barrens, pine plains, sand plains, or pineland areas occur throughout the U.S. from Florida to Maine as well as the Midwest, West, and Canada and parts of Eurasia. Perhaps the most well known pine-barrens area to North Americans is the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Pine barrens are generally pine forests in otherwise "barren" and agriculturally challenging areas. Such pine forests often occur on dry, acidic, infertile soils, and also include grasses, forbs, and low shrubs. The most extensive pine barrens occur in large areas of sandy glacial deposits, lakebeds, and outwash terraces along rivers.
Pinelands National Reserve is a national reserve that encompasses the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The Pinelands is a unique location of historic villages and berry farms amid the vast oak-pine forests, extensive wetlands, and diverse species of plants and animals of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion. It is protected by state and federal legislation through management by local, state, and federal governments and the private sector. The reserve contains Wharton State Forest, Brendan T. Byrne State Forest, Bass River State Forest, Penn State Forest, and Double Trouble State Park, which provide public recreation facilities. Established by Congress in 1978, it is one of the nation's first national reserves, established along with Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve.
The Brendan T. Byrne State Forest is a 37,242 acres (150.71 km2) state forest in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Its protected acreage is split between Burlington and Ocean Counties.
The Batsto River is a 22.9-mile-long (36.9 km) tributary of the Mullica River in the southern New Jersey Pine Barrens in the United States. The river also drains 49.42 square miles of land.
County Route 542 is a county highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway extends 20.57 miles (33.10 km) from Route 54 in Hammonton to U.S. Route 9 (US 9) in Bass River Township.
The Plymouth Pinelands, also known as the Massachusetts Coastal Pine Barrens, is an ecoregion located in Massachusetts in the United States. It is a part of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens.
Warren Grove is an unincorporated rural community that is a part of Stafford Township, Barnegat Township and Little Egg Harbor Township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its location in the heart of the Pine Barrens makes it one of the most secluded and remote corners of the state.
The Pine Barrens is a 1968 book by American writer John McPhee about the history, people and biology of the New Jersey Pine Barrens that originally appeared in The New Yorker in 1967.
The New Jersey Pine Barrens has been the site of many legends, tales and mythical creatures, many of which have been documented by Weird NJ in its magazines and books.
The Batona Trail is a 53.5-mile (86.1 km) hiking trail through New Jersey's Pine Barrens. The trail is one of the longest in the state, behind the Delaware and Raritan Canal Trail, the section of the Appalachian Trail within the state, the Liberty-Water Gap Trail, and the completed section of the Highlands Trail in the state. The Batona Trail begins in Brendan T. Byrne State Forest at the ghost town of Ong's Hat and traverses Franklin Parker Preserve, Wharton State Forest and Bass River State Forest. The trail was built in 1961 by the Batona Hiking Club, which began informally in 1928 when Philadelphians began meeting regularly to hike. It takes about three days to hike the whole trail.
The Southern Shore Region is located in the South Jersey region of New Jersey. It is one of six tourism regions established by the New Jersey State Department of Tourism, the others are the Gateway Region, Greater Atlantic City, the Delaware River Region, the Shore Region. and the Skylands Region. The area includes Cape May County and Cumberland County. The coast is along the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay, while the inland areas are part of the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
Batsto Village is a historic unincorporated community located on CR 542 within Washington Township in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. It is located in Wharton State Forest in the south central Pine Barrens, and a part of the Pinelands National Reserve. It is listed on the New Jersey and National Register of Historic Places, and is administered by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Parks & Forestry. The name is derived from the Swedish bastu, bathing place ; the first bathers were probably the Lenni Lenape Native Americans.
Penn State Forest is a 3,366-acre (5.259 sq mi) state park in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. The forest is protected as a section of the environmentally sensitive Pine Barrens. Various recreational resources are available to visitors including Oswego Lake and the Oswego River for boating and fishing. The lake has a picnic area with a boat launch and primitive restrooms. Miles of unpaved roads composed of gravel, dirt, and sand traverse all areas of the forest. The roads are open for hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and cross-country skiing, as well as four-wheel driving. Hunting for deer, wild turkey, water fowl, and small game is permitted in season. A section of the Pine Barren Plains, a globally rare dwarf forest ecosystem that reaches a mature canopy height of about 4 ft (1.2 m), is located in the northeastern portion of the park. Penn State Forest is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.
The Pinelands Protection Act, passed by the New Jersey Legislature in June 1979, required the development of a Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) for the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a relatively undeveloped, ecologically unique area in New Jersey. The goal of the CMP was to state the rules on how the land may be used.
Franklin Parker Preserve is an 11,379 acre natural preserve located in the Pine Barrens in Chatsworth, New Jersey. The preserve links Brendan Byrne, Wharton, and Penn State Forests. Franklin Parker Preserve is owned and managed by New Jersey Conservation Foundation.
The state Pinelands Protection Act of 1979 set goals of preserving farms and undeveloped lands, discouraging piecemeal and scattered development and conserving animal and plant species on the sandy soils of the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer, estimated to hold 17.7 trillion gallons of water.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(help)