PINE BARRENS (NEW JERSEY)

The 'Pine Barrens', also known as the 'Pinelands', is a heavily forested area covering 1.1 million acres (4,500 km²) of coastal plain across southern and central New Jersey. The name "pine barrens" refers to the area's sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soil, which didn't take well to the crops originally imported by European settlers. However, these uncommon conditions enable the Pine Barrens to support a unique and 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 fire to reproduce (fire is very frequent in the Pine Barrens). The sand that composes much of the area's soil is referred to by the locals as sugar sand.
Despite its proximity to the metropolitan areas of New York City, Philadelphia, and Atlantic City, and the fact that the Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City Expressway run directly through it, the Pine Barrens remains largely rural and undeveloped. In fact, the area has the distinction of being the largest piece of open space between Boston and Richmond, Virginia. The Pine Barrens also helps recharge the 17 trillion gallon Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer containing some of the purest water in the United States. As a result of all these factors, the area was designated the Pinelands National Reserve (the nation's first National Reserve) in 1978, and it was designated a United Nations International Biosphere Reserve in 1983. Development in the Pine Barrens is strictly controlled by an independent state/federal agency called the New Jersey Pinelands Commission. The Pinelands Reserve contains the Wharton, Brendan T. Byrne (formerly Lebanon), and Bass River state forests.
John McPhee wrote one of his early books, The Pine Barrens on the history and ecology of the region in 1967.

Contents

History

The Pine Barrens today

May 2007 Wild Fire

References

See also

External links

Governance

History and ecology

Non-profit organizations and other local interests

History

During colonial times, the Pine Barrens was home to various industries. Bog iron was mined from bogs, streams, and waterways, and was worked in furnaces at Batsto, Atsion, Ferrago, Hanover, and several other locations. Iron from these early furnaces was instrumental in supplying the American military with weapons and camp tools during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. The bog iron industry fell off in the mid-1800s when iron ore could be mined more cheaply in Pennsylvania. Other industries such as paper mills, sawmills, and gristmills rose and fell throughout the years. Smaller industries such as charcoal-making and glassmaking also were attempted and met with varying degrees of success. Over time, however, the forest reclaimed almost all traces of the Pine Barrens' industrial past. Ghost towns—remnants of these industries—can still be found at various locations, and one, Batsto Village, has been restored to its mid-19th century state.
The Pine Barrens were home to the Kallikaks, a poor, backwoods family who were held up as a case study in genetic inferiority by eugenicists in the early 20th century. Today, it is understood that the facts in the Kallikaks study were misrepresented.^[1] For years, residents of the area were called "Pineys", a derogatory term, by outsiders; today, many Pinelands residents are proud of both the name and the land on which they live.
The Pine Barrens gave rise to the legend of the Jersey Devil, said to have been born to a local woman named Mrs. Leeds in an area known as "Leeds Point" sometime during the 1700s. Most sightings of the Devil have occurred in or near the Pine Barrens.

The Pine Barrens today

The only industries that still thrive in the Pine Barrens are related to agriculture and tourism. The Pine Barrens is the reason New Jersey grows the third-highest number of cranberries in the country, mostly attributed to the areas around Chatsworth, including Whitesbog which is north of Chatsworth. The first-ever cultivated blueberries were developed in the Pine Barrens in 1916 through the hard work of Elizabeth White of Whitesbog, and blueberry farms are now almost as common as cranberry bogs. A majority of these blueberry farms are found in and around the town of Hammonton. The Pine Barrens are also at risk from increasing development and suburbanization of the area. An endangered species of frog, the Pine Barrens Tree Frog, has a disjunct population there.

May 2007 Wild Fire

On May 15, 2007, a flare dropped from an F-16 during a training session over a section of the Pine Barrens in Ocean County, about 25 miles north of Atlantic City resulted in an extensive forest fire. On the 18th, the fire was declared contained after burning over 17,000 acres (69 km²) and forcing the evacuation for more than 6,000 residents.^[2]

References

1. http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/kallikak.shtml
2. Pinelands Fire Nearly Contained, WPVI, May 18, 2007. Accessed May 25, 2007.

See also

★ Jersey Devil

External links

Governance

★ New Jersey Pinelands Commission

★ Pine Barrens Education Page

★ National Park Service: Partnership Wild & Scenic Rivers

History and ecology

★ Birds of the Pine Barrens

★ Plants of the Pine Parrens

★ NJPineBarrens.com - Exploring the Ghost Towns of Southern New Jersey

★ American Revolutionary War actions in the Pinelands area

Non-profit organizations and other local interests

★ NJ Pinelands and Down Jersey

★ Photos of Colliers Mills WMA

★ Forked River Mountain Coalition

★ Pinelands Preservation Alliance

★ Piney Power.com

★ Batona Trail

★ South Jersey Tourism Corporation