Pinelands Home LIBRARY RESOURCES
LOCAL & STATE RESOURCES
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PINELANDS NATIONAL RESERVE: Our Country's
First National Reserve
A Million Acres in Size. . .
The New Jersey Pinelands covers over a million acres of the southeastern
part of the state. The Pinelands includes portions of seven southeastern
New Jersey counties and is inhabited by nearly 500,000 people. Designated
as a National Reserve in 1978 and an International Biosphere Reserve
in
1983, it contains towns and villages; farms; vast unbroken forests of
pine, oak, and cedar; and the Pine Plains, the most extensive pygmy
forest
of its type in the country.
Millions of years ago, melting glaciers and
ocean waters washed sand and gravel over this region. The forces of
nature slowly created a relatively
level landscape crisscrossed by winding streams and rivers. Through the
centuries, sandy soils, acidic water, and frequent fires formed a unique
environment. Only plants and animals which adapted to these conditions
were able to live in the environment. People called the area the Barrens
because the unique environment made it hard for them to farm in the usual
way.
Although many of man's activities are compatible with the
land, some are not. Scattered developments have been steadily breaking
up the
forests,
slowly destroying natural habitats and threatening the water supply.
Wetlands
have been drained and filled in an effort to make them suitable for building.
This makes wetlands unsuitable for wildlife habitats and destroys their
ability to maintain water quality. If the quality of Pinelands water
is
changed or pollution enters the aquifer, animals, plants, and even people,
who cause the pollution, will suffer. Because of these threats, the
state
and federal governments have passed legislation to protect
New Jersey's Pinelands and its water resources.
Animal Life in the Pinelands. . .
More than 1,200 plant and animal species are found in the Pinelands,
almost 100 of which are threatened or endangered. The three-inch-high
curly grass
fern grows only in shady cedar swamps. It looks more like a grass than
a fern. Long Island is the only other place in the United States where
curly grass fern is found.
 On
late spring evenings in the bogs, a chorus of Pine Barrens tree frogs
can be heard. The colorful tree frog, like the curly grass fern, is among
Pinelands plants and animals which are threatened or endangered. Clearly,
protection of Pinelands wetlands is important.
Wetland soils and vegetation play an important role in New Jersey's Pinelands
ecosystem. They help to maintain the natural acidity and high quality
of the water. The quality of this water is important even for the survival
of life in the marshes and bays of southern New Jersey's coast where
the
food chain begins. Pinelands river water flows into these areas where
countless millions of fish, crabs, clams, and other ocean creatures start
their lives. Changes in the quality or quantity of Pinelands water flowing
into the bays can harm this important food source and seriously affect
New Jersey's shellfishing industry.
Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer. . .
Beneath the surface of New Jersey's Pinelands is a vast quantity of water
in the sand. This sand formation, called the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer
System, contains 17-trillion gallons of water and is replenished annually
by approximately 45-inches of rain fall.
 Rain
percolates through the predominantly porous, sandy soil to replenish
the aquifer below. Unfortunately, uncontrolled pollutants can reach the
water supply in the same way. The Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer supplies
half
a million South Jersey residents living in Pinelands communities with
some of the purest drinking water in the world. It also feeds the rivers
and streams of the Pinelands. Where underground water reaches the surface, "wetlands" are
found. Wetlands that cover about one-quarter of the Pinelands, include
rivers, streams, bogs, hardwood and cedar swamps.
Wetlands Habitats. . .
Wetlands provide habitats for eighty percent of the Pinelands rare
plants and animals, maintain water quality, and affect life in the
marshes and
bays of southern New Jersey's coast where the food chain begins. Pinelands
river water flows into these areas where countless millions of fish,
crabs,
clams, and other ocean creatures start their lives.
The wetlands even
contribute to medical research. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company scientists
have isolated a compound that forms the basis for
a
new class of antibiotics called monobactams. This compound is produced
by an organism discovered in these wetlands.
Insect-Eating Plants. .
Wetland soils, although high in iron content, are low in minerals
and nutrients. Several insect-eating plants have developed unique
adaptations
in order to survive here. For example, the pitcher plant has hollow
leaves which contain water and digestive juices. Insects that enter
these inviting
traps are slowly digested by the plant. The tiny sundew is another
insect-eating plant. Its sparkling, sticky droplets catch and hold
insects as the plant
digests them.
Local Craftsmen. . .
People fish, hunt, and trap in New Jersey's Pinelands. Longtime
residents still practice trades and folk arts handed down to them.
A sneakbox,
a
small boat shaped like a melon seed, is an example of local craftsmanship.
It is designed for fishing and hunting in the shallow inlets and
bays of southern New Jersey.
Bog Iron Ore. . .
The unusual reddish brown color of Pinelands water is caused by
decomposed plant material and dissolved iron. Where water is
still, a thin film
of
rust forms on its surface. This rust forms when naturally occurring
iron in the soils and water reacts with oxygen and floats on
the surface. The
rust, or iron oxide as it is called, combines with sand and gravel
to
form a low-grade iron ore which is deposited along stream banks.
During the seventeen and eighteen hundreds, colonists used this
bog iron ore
to conduct a major iron industry in the Pinelands. Today visitors
can see bog iron ore at the restored iron-making village of Batsto
in Burlington
County where cannons were tested and cannon balls were made for
the American Revolution. 
Early Industry. . .
In the early seventeen hundreds, European settlers moved into
New Jersey's Pinelands. They saw the sand, water, and forests
as raw
materials for
making a living and started thriving industries related to the
natural resources. They cut the vast forests for fuel and lumber
and built
great ships of the rot-resistant cedars. By 1800, the shipyards
of southern
New Jersey supplied vessels needed for commerce in the Philadelphia
area. Later, in the 18th and 19th centuries, company towns like
Batsto and
Es
tellville were the sites of prosperous iron and glass industries.
They mined the plentiful sand and melted it to make glass. When
glass making
became a major industry, settlers melted the abundant sand together
with soda ash and lime using fuel from nearby forests. The first
mason jar
was made in the Pinelands near Green Bank in Burlington County.
First Inhabitants. . .
When Indians first came to the region ten thousand years ago,
their way of life made few changes in the natural environment.
They traveled
across
New Jersey's Pinelands to gather shellfish from the bays and
they hunted, fished, and trapped in the forest. Archaeologists
have
discovered more
than a thousand Indian sites in the Pinelands, including a
burial ground at Savich Farm in Marlton.
Cranberries and Blueberries. . .
 Starting
in the late eighteen hundreds, Pinelands farmers began to
cultivate wild berries which grew naturally in the special conditions
of the area. Today
New Jersey ranks third among cranberry-producing states.
Cranberry
farmers need open bogs and an abundant, pure water supply
to grow and harvest
their crop.
Pinelands Plan. . .
The Pinelands Plan forges a public-private partnership that
protects the region's natural resources while permitting
development and
industry in
long established communities and designated growth areas.
Fifty-three municipalities join in the effort to guide
the location and
amount of Pinelands development, protect wetlands, and
safeguard water
quality by
preparing master plans and zoning ordinances consistent
with the regional Plan. Development proposals are then reviewed
locally and monitored
by
the Pinelands Commission.
Nearly 40 percent of the Pinelands
is publicly owned and our state's Department of Environmental Protection
continues
to
work with the
Commission to acquire
environmentally-sensitive lands with federal and state
funding. Other important areas are protected through
the Pinelands
Development Credit
program, the first regional development transfer program
in the United States. By purchasing development rights
from owners
of
valuable
farmland and natural areas, developers are able to increase
the number of homes
to be built in less sensitive areas on the region's periphery.
The Commission...
Federal legislation to help New Jersey protect the Pinelands
was passed in 1978. The state's Pinelands Protection
Act, one of the
most unique
land use laws in the nation, followed in 1979. The
15-member Pinelands Commission, consisting of seven members appointed
by the Governor;
seven appointed by each of the Pinelands counties (Atlantic,
Burlington, Camden,
Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Ocean) and one
member
appointed by
the U.S. Secretary of the Interior then prepared the
Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan. The Plan went
into effect
on January 16, 1981, following
its approval by the Governor and U.S. Secretary of
the Interior.
In addition to implementing the Pinelands Plan, the
Commission and its staff work with interested citizens,
organizations,
academic institutions and public officials. Important
Pinelands research
is
conducted, education
and interpretation programs are carried out, and
Pinelands protection policies are reflected in many state environmental
and building
programs.
Pinelands Information. . .
For more information about Pinelands protection,
curriculum guides, audio-visual aids, and other
Pinelands educational
materials,
write to the Pinelands
Commission, P.O. Box 7, 15 Springfield Road, New
Lisbon, New Jersey 08064 or telephone 609-894-9342.
Also, enroll
in the
annual spring
Pinelands
Short Course held on the Cook/Douglass Campus of
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. This
daylong event,
sponsored by the
Pinelands Commission
and Cook College, Office of Continuing Professional
Education, offers workshops led by experts on a
variety of topics.
Teachers will find Pinelands curriculum workshops
particularly helpful. For further information
about this special
opportunity, contact the
Pinelands Commission or the Office of Continuing
Professional Education, Cook College,
P.O. Box 231, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903
or telephone 908-932-9271.
If you would like to help in the efforts to
protect the Pinelands, you may contribute to the Kathleen
M. Lynch-van
de Sande
Fund for the Reforestation
of the New Jersey Pinelands. Please make checks
payable to the Pinelands Commission Katie Fund
at the above
Commission address.
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