10 Things You Might Not Know About the New Jersey Pinelands

 A view of the Pinelands from the Apple Pie Hill fire tower - nothing but trees

1. 12,000-15,000 years ago was the end of the last ice age when many present plant and animal populations begin to develop. About 10,000 BC, the first human inhabitants appear in the Pinelands. They are the predecessors of the Lenape Indians that would inhabit the region until about 1800.
2. New Jersey's Pinelands National Reserve is our country's first National Reserve. Congress created the Pinelands National Reserve (PNR) through the passage of the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978.
3. It spans portions of seven counties and all or part of 56 municipalities. 
4. It occupies 22% of New Jersey's land area.
5. It is the largest body of open space on the Mid-Atlantic seaboard between Richmond and Boston. 
6. It is the home to dozens of rare plant and animal species.



Mimosa Lakes in autumn colors



7. The Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system below the Pinelands contains an estimated 17 trillion gallons of water.
8. In the 1830s, the earliest cultivated cranberry bogs appear in the Pinelands, along with the first paper mill in the Pinelands at McCartyville (Harrisville). 
9. In 1967, the publication of John McPhee’s national best-selling book, The Pine Barrens, generated a public outcry to protect the Pinelands natural and cultural resources.
10.  In 1979, New Jersey formed a partnership with the federal government to preserve, protect and enhance the natural and cultural resources of this special place. Through its implementation of the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, the New Jersey Pinelands Commission protects the Pinelands in a manner that maintains the region's unique ecology while permitting hopefully compatible development. 

And, though it is often referred to as the "Pine Barrens," the NJ Pinelands are anything but barren.

Get more information at:
http://www.nj.gov/pinelands/reserve/
https://www.nps.gov/pine/