LIBRARY RESOURCES

• Canoe Rentals
• Cranberries in New Jersey
• Dominant/Distinctive Vertebrates Listing
• Fact Sheet
• Fire in the Pinelands
• History of the Pinelands
• Library Materials & Holdings
• National Reserve Profile
• Reading List 
• Related Terms
• Speakers Directory
• Surface Water in the Pinelands
• Vegetation of the Pinelands
• Vertebrates of the Pinelands

LOCAL & STATE RESOURCES

• Batsto Village
• Cranberry Recipes
• Jersey Devil of the Pine Barrens
• New Jersey Pinelands
• Comprehensive Management Plan Summary
• Photos of the Pinelands
• Pinelands Commission 
• Pinelands Preservation Alliance
• Pineylore
• Pineypower
• Plants of the Pinelands
• Wharton State Park
• Whitesbog Village

Words & Definitions related to the Pinelands

Pine Barrens was the name given by early settlers to more than a million acres of the Atlantic Coastal Plain in southern New Jersey. The settlers called the area the "barrens" because most agricultural crops could not grow in its sandy, nutrient-poor soil.

The Pinelands, a more recent name for the Pine Barrens, covers essentially the same geographic area as the Pine Barrens. The region is 1.1 million acres in size and includes portions of seven New Jersey Counties: Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Ocean.

The Preservation Area, whose boundaries are defined by New Jersey's Pinelands Protection Act, is the area of the Pinelands that has been least developed and it includes 368,000 acres of semi-wilderness. Most of the streams and rivers in this area are part of the Mullica River watershed.

The Protection Area, whose boundaries are defined by New Jersey Pinelands Protection Act, is the 565,000 acre area surrounding the Preservation Area. It is divided into six management areas where the use of land is determined by how it would affect the environmental resources.

The Pinelands National Reserve was established by Section 502 of the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978. Generally, the Reserve includes the state designated Preservation and Protection Areas as well as certain coastal areas protected under New Jersey's Coastal Areas Facility Review Act. In a national reserve, local, state and federal governments cooperate to protect natural and historical resources and traditional lifestyles while providing for development in environmentally suitable locations.

Designated a "biosphere reserve" in 1983 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) , New Jersey Is Pinelands contains a sparsely populated and forested Preservation Area surrounded by a more heavily populated Protection Area. Scientists from around the world plan to study the impact of human activity on the unique ecosystem of the Preservation Area.