Pine Barrens Wildfire

A teenager was arrested for arson last week, accused of starting the the Jones Road Wildfire in southern New Jersey's Lacey and Ocean townships. The fire is on track to be the state’s largest in almost 20 years, burning at least 15,000 acres in three days.

The fire threatened the delicate Pinelands ecosystem, displacing wildlife, and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate. Igniting on April 22, 2025, in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area near Barnegat Township. It triggered a state of emergency, closed major highways including the Garden State Parkway, and left more than 25,000 homes without power. 

The wildfire broke out near 19-year-old Joseph Kling’s home. Prosecutors say he lit a bonfire in the Pine Barrens and abandoned the site after only partially extinguishing it. 

The Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area, a cornerstone of the Pinelands, is home to endangered species like the Pine Barrens tree frog and threatened species such as the northern pine snake. While the Pinelands' pitch pines and scrub oaks can adapt to periodic fires, the intensity of the wildfire could disrupt habitats and force wildlife into residential areas. Similar fires in Passaic County last fall saw animals seeking refuge in backyards, prompting experts to urge residents to provide water and space for displaced creatures.

New Jersey's 21 counties remain at heightened risk, with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service working tirelessly to contain the blaze. Helicopters and ground crews are deployed, but the fire's size and unpredictable winds pose significant challenges.

It's peak fire season for the area, with low humidity, winds, abd warming temperatures. New Jersey’s wildfire season, along with long-term drought, contributed to the spread. Firefighters have contained much of the Jones Road fire through controlled burns—removing dry vegetation that might otherwise fuel it. 

SOURCES

natureworldnews.com/articles/72571/20250423/massive-new-jersey-wildfire-devastates-8500-acres-threatens-wildlife-communities-amid-historic.htm

Photos: https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/04/24/new-jersey-wildfire-jones-road-fire-photos/ 

newjersey.news12.com/new-jersey-forest-fire-service-jones-road-wildfire-is-60-contained-15300-acres-burned

nbcnews.com/weather/wildfires/new-jersey-wildfire-continues-burn-thousands-evacuated-rcna202541

The Batona Trail

The Batona Trail is a 49.5-mile (79.7 km) hiking trail through New Jersey's Pine Barrens.
The trail is the fourth longest in the state and begins in Brendan T. Byrne State Forest (formerly Lebanon State Forest) at the ghost town of Ong's Hat and traverses Wharton State Forest and Bass River State Forest.

The Pine Barrens are not barren at all. There are 39 species of mammals, 229 bird species, 59 reptile and amphibian species, and 91 fish species that have been reported in the Pinelands. Possums, chipmunks, squirrels, beavers, muskrats, mice, foxes, raccoons, weasels, mink, river otter, and white-tailed deer are some of the more common mammals seen in the Pinelands. Some common amphibians and reptiles are snakes, skinks, newts, salamanders, frogs, toads and turtles.

The Pine Barrens Tree Frog has a population here that is disconnected from other populations in the Carolinas and the Florida Panhandle. 

The New Jersey Pinelands is the fringe of both northern and southern plant species, such as the Yellow Fringed Orchid.

The pines that are found there include loblolly pine, white pine, pitch pine, shortleaf pines, and  Virginia pines. Although pines dominate the area, there are also maple trees, birches, cedars, oaks, magnolia and sassafras trees along the trail.

Edible plants include bearberries, spotted wintergreen, teaberries, huckleberries, bayberries, blackberries, cranberries, blueberries and strawberries. 

There is a diverse range of other plants from the prickly pear cactus, wildflowers, 28 species of orchids, the pitcher plant, ferns, Atlantic white cedar and sphagnum moss.

The trail was built in 1961 by the Batona Hiking Club, which began informally in 1928 when Philadelphians began meeting regularly to hike. Most hikers will take about three days to hike the whole trail.

The portion of the Batona Trail through Wharton State Forest is maintained by the State Park Service and the Batona Hiking Club. One stop on this section of the Batona trail passes the Carranza Memorial within Wharton State Forest.

The trail passes also through Bass River State Forest is maintained by the State Park Service, the Outdoor Club of South Jersey and the Batona Hiking Club.

More Trail Information

• state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/docs/batona14web.pdf
• sierraclub.org/new-jersey/batona-trail-section
• southjerseytrails.org/batonatrail/
• nynjtc.org/park/batona-trail

'Pine Mud' Film Addresses Issue in New Jersey's Pinelands

In the vast Pinelands National Reserve of southern New Jersey, powerful vehicles trample protected sand dunes and drive circles through ancient ponds. Like in many wild places, “off-roading” has grown more popular here.

As a local conservationist works to protect habitat for threatened species, tensions flare with off-roading enthusiasts who don't want to see their access to the forest restricted.

Filmmaker Jared Flesher's Pine Mud is the first feature documentary to explore the complex, widespread and intensifying problem of off-road vehicle damage to public lands.

PINE MUD premieres at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital on Saturday, March 14, 2020, at 3pm, in the theater of the Eaton DC hotel, just blocks from the White House.     Tickets are free but require advance registration

Saving One of NJ's Last Wild Populations

That title probably suggest to you some wild creature roaming the Garden State. But it refers to an NJDEP press release about trying to save New Jersey’s last remaining wild population of a plant.

The plant is American chaffseed, a flowering perennial herb with highly specialized habitat needs. The species’ last stronghold is in a state forest in the Pinelands of Burlington County.

American chaffseed (Schwalbea americana)

The project is being overseen by the DEP’s Office of Natural Lands Management. This year, the total number of American chaffseed flowers at the Burlington County site is double that of recent years, with the number of stems up 65 percent from last year. All of this points to an increase in the overall number of plants next year.

Resembling a snapdragon, American chaffseed needs open meadows with sandy and acidic soil as well as nearby wetlands. Seeds of American chaffseed also require contact with the roots of a host plant to germinate. Known host plants in New Jersey include Maryland golden aster, inkberry and dwarf huckleberry.

The American chaffseed is listed as endangered by the state as well as the federal government. The biggest threats to American chaffseed across its range include development, mowing and suppression of wildfires that are needed to remove competing understory vegetation.

The species was once found at 18 locations in New Jersey, all in or near the Pinelands. At one time, the species was found in 16 states from Massachusetts to Louisiana, and as far west as Kentucky and Tennessee. Today its range has diminished to spotty populations in eight states along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts.

Cranberries and the Pine Barrens

The New Jersey Pinelands picked up the name the "Pine Barrens" because the European colonists found the acidic soil infertile for their crops. But that type of soil and the water-rich area is optimal for cranberries.

I visited the Pine Barrens many times with my wife and young sons, and we went to the annual Cranberry Festival twice. The festival in Chatsworth is still held in October and feels very much like an autumn harvest ritual. Of course, Thanksgiving is also a traditional time to serve cranberry relish with the turkey.

We learned a lot about cranberries and ate and drank a variety of cranberry products. Cranberry growing is a slow process and it takes several years for a cranberry bog to mature.

As they will tell you at the festival, it's not exactly like the image you might have of cranberry bogs from the Ocean Spray commercials. In those ads, two farmers in waders are standing in the bogs surrounded by floating berries.

Cranberries don't grow underwater but on vine runners in the sandy Pinelands soil. After a few cold nights in September, the berries turn red. Farmers flood the fields and ripe berries loosen and float to the surface with little encouragement, but the old "dry picking" method is also used.

Harvesters in waders corral floating cranberries into a mass.
    Photo by Jauhien Sasnou

Cranberries are used for processed foods, including juices. White cranberry juice comes from ones picked just before they turn red. Red or white, raw berries are very tart, not at all like their sweetly processed products.

Only about 3 percent of the cranberry harvest is dry picked from pre-flooded fields in the old way and sold fresh in the produce section. Craisins, Ocean Spray's dried cranberries, were introduced in 1993.

New Jersey is the third-ranked cranberry producer in the U.S.., behind Wisconsin and Massachusetts. Out of the roughly 700 farms overall that grow cranberries for Ocean Spray, about 20 are in South Jersey and they produce between 500,000 and 600,000 barrels of cranberries a year.

Cranberries were eaten by American sailors in the colonial period to ward off scurvy. Today, Now many people eat and drink it for their antibacterial properties in fighting urinary tract infections.

5-year old berry picker, Browns Mills, New Jersey, 1910
Photo from the National Child Labor Committee Collection at the Library of Congress

Native peoples in NJ used cranberries as food, in their ceremonies, as a red dye and as medicine. Cranberries dried with deer meat made a kind of jerky called pemmican. a convenience food that could be kept for a long time. It is very likely that cranberries (fresh, as jelly or in pemmican) were part of that first Thanksgiving. 

Cranberries got their name from the early German and Dutch settlers who thought their blossoms resembled the neck and head of a crane, hence "crane berries."

Cranberry cultivation in New Jersey goes back to 1840 when the State Board of Agriculture report shows that John Webb established a cranberry bog in Ocean County near Cassville. His crop was sold to ship merchants who sold them to whalers. Cranberries were stored onboard in barrels of cold water for the sailors to get Vitamin C to ward off scurvy.

Cranberry grower Elizabeth Lee of New Egypt boil some damaged berries that would normally be discarded and liked the jelly that remained which she sold it as "Bog Sweet Cranberry Sauce."


http://www.pineypower.com/cranberries.htm

https://njdigitalhighway.org/lesson/garden_state/cranberry_industry

https://bestofnj.com/cranberry-season-in-new-jersey

Hiking Belleplain State Forest

We certainly have some challenging hikes in NJ, but you can easily modify trails to your time and physical restrictions.

One place to try that is not often crowded in the fall is Belleplain State Forest. This is a 21,320-acre New Jersey State Forest in northern Cape May County and eastern Cumberland County. It has many young pine, oak and Atlantic white cedar trees, having better soil than the northern Pine Barrens.

In 1933, three camps were set up by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Reforestation Relief Act, supplying labor to the forest for over an eight-year period. The CCC converted Meisle Cranberry Bog into Lake Nummy, a popular swimming, boating, and fishing area. They also constructed the original forest headquarters, maintenance building, a road system, bridges, and dams.

Belleplain State Forest offers several hikes of diverse difficulty. The Lake Nummy hike iis 7.2 miles (East Creek Trail). That may sound long but because it is mostly on flat, packed sand trails with little elevation changes, so it's like 5 miles in Northern NJ. You will traverse several long boardwalks over wet areas, and maybe even a few wet areas if we have had recent rain. The most dangerous section is probably a stretch along the shoulder of Rt. 347 for about .4 mile or so around the midpoint.

If you want to walk the Pinelands but need something shorter, you can stay around Lake Nummy and do less than a mile walk on the Nature Trail (.89m), Meisle (.61m), North Shore Trail (.72m) or Goosekill Trail (.28m).

You can also combine and edit trails. Use Sunset Rd and Tom Field to make a loop and you'll cut out the East Creek pond section and knock the longer hike down to about 4.5m



You can find maps online to print out or pick up a park map at the Forest Office or Interpretive Center at Lake Nummy if it is open. There are no park fees after Labor Day.

Take precautions for ticks on any hike. You don't have to be very far into the wild to encounter ticks.

MORE INFO

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/belle.html

https://www.nynjtc.org/park/belleplain-state-forest

https://www.njhiking.com/nj-hikes-belleplain-state-forest/

Information and a trail map can be found in 50 Hikes in New Jersey and Hiking New Jersey.

         

Pine Barrens Protection

Pine Barrens cranberry bog

The Pine Barrens, or more correctly The Pinelands National Reserve, is an amazing part of New Jersey.

Some Pinelands facts:

• It covers over a million acres.
• It includes 800,000 acres of forest and 60,000 acres of farmland. 
• It is home to many rare animals and dozens of rare plants, including some found nowhere else on Earth.
• The highest point in the Pine Barrens is the fire tower on Apple Pie Hill in Wharton State Forest.
• The Pine Barrens comprise the largest surviving open space along the Eastern Seaboard south of Maine's great forests.

What is hidden from view but very important is the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer, a shallow underground reservoir beneath the Pinelands that holds 17 trillion gallons of clean, fresh water. The aquifer provides more than 35 billion gallons of water per year to residents, farmers, businesses, and industry in southern New Jersey.

The National Parks and Recreation Act and New Jersey's Pinelands Protection Act were enacted in 1978 and 1979, respectively and these laws created a system of regional planning, with all development governed by a Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) and a mandate to protect the region's natural resources. A central goal is to safeguard the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer by protecting the forests that collect and cleanse rainfall.

A 15-member Pinelands Commission oversees and implements the Comprehensive Management Plan, which designates conservation and growth zones and applies stringent environmental standards.

Threats to the Pinelands include underground gas pipeline proposals, contamination of the aquifer by nitrogen runoff in developed areas, saltwater intrusion into the aquifer from pumping too much freshwater, and the destruction of forests and habitats by illegal or improper off-road vehicle use.

The Pine Barrens are a New Jersey treasure and a global treasure that was designated a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Biosphere Reserve.

Pinelands Preservation Alliance website www.pinelandsalliance.org
NJ Pinelands Commission www.state.nj.us/pinelands

Pine Barren tree frog

The Heart of the Pinelands

Here is a video from the New Jersey Conservation Foundation on New Jersey's Pine Barrens. NJCF has preserved thousands of acres of land in this home to many rare and plants and animals.

Of particular focus in this video is the harmless and threatened Northern Pine Snake.





According to NJCF:

"Northern pine snakes face a variety of threats in New Jersey. Habitat loss and alteration are the greatest threats to this in New Jersey. However, illegal collecting and off-road recreational vehicle use also have harmful effects on pine snakes.

The development of Pinelands habitats leads to a loss of pine-oak forest habitat and an increase in human encounters with pine snakes. Too often, such encounters prove fatal to these snakes, and reports of pine snake road kills are common. Some forestry practices may also have negative impacts on pine snakes. For example, forestry practices that favor oak-dominated systems with closed canopies or dense shrub layers probably decrease the amount of suitable pine snake habitat in an area."

More on the pine snake at conservewildlifenj.org

Pinelands Short Course March 11 at Stockton University

28TH ANNUAL PINELANDS SHORT COURSE

SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 2017

Hosted by Stockton University

A day long event featuring educational presentations that explore
the unique history, ecology, and culture of the Pinelands.

5 Professional Development Credits Available for Educators

Three on-campus outdoor field courses include one on identifying bird species, a tour of Stockton’s campus forests, and a look at biodiversity hotspots on the school’s campus, a university spokesperson said.

The Mullica River tour will be 2½ hours, and will include stops at various watershed habitats.

Atlantic County history, and the Leeds family will play a big part in this year’s event, held March 11 at Stockton University in Galloway Township, said commission spokesman Paul Leakan.

Norman Goos will tell the story of 1st Lt. Jeremiah Leeds, a key figure from a colonial family that owned almost all of what is known today as Atlantic City. Goos is President of the Col. Richard Somers Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Brian Regal, a Kean University assistant professor of the history of science and medicine, will discuss the origins of the story of the Jersey Devil, and how that story evolved from the politics of early colonial Atlantic County, said Leakan. Legend has it the “monster” was born to the same Leeds family.

The Pinelands Short Course provides a venue for the commission to educate the public, which is part of its mission. More than 1,400 people have attended the course in the last three years alone, said commission Executive Director Nancy Wittenberg.

There will be 38 presentations to choose from, covering a wide variety of ecological and cultural topics, according to the commission.

President Harvey Kesselman said the university is pleased Stockton faculty will share their knowledge at the Short Course. They include forest expert George Zimmermann, entomologist Jamie Cromartie, river expert Claude Epstein, professor emeritus, and birding expert John Rokita.

New courses include:

• Coyotes in New Jersey; 
• the Fungi Kingdom and its Importance to the Pinelands; 
• Raptors and Reptiles in the Pinelands (with live animals); 
• The Life Story of 1st Lt. Jeremiah Leeds, a “Piney” who once owned almost all of what is now Atlantic City.
• An overview of insects’ roles in the Pinelands; 
• the geologic and land use history of Pinelands rivers; 
• a virtual field trip of the rivers and streams in the Barnegat Bay watershed; 
• the Lenape and their use of the region’s environment; 
• honey bee rescue.

For information and registration, go to nj.gov/pinelands/about/events/

Public Meeting About South Jersey Gas Pipeline Project in the Pinelands

January 24, 2017

NJ Pinelands Commission
Public Meeting - South Jersey Gas Pipeline Project  

9:30 am

New Location: Parish Centre, St. Ann's Catholic Church

22 Trenton Road, Browns Mills NJ 08015 

Former location was Ocean Acres Community Center in Manahawkin.

via http://enviro-eventscalendar.blogspot.com

Batsto Village Country Living Fair October 16

Batsto Village, a beautiful historic village within Wharton State Forest, will host the annual Country Living Fair on October 16, 2016, as part of the Village’s 250th anniversary celebrations. The 31st annual Country Living Fair will take place on Sunday, October 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

Batsto Village is located on Rt. 542 in Washington Township in Burlington County. The Village, which is listed on both the New Jersey and National Register of Historic Places, includes more than 40 sites and structures, including the Batsto Mansion, a sawmill, a 19th-century ore boat, a charcoal kiln, ice and milk houses, a carriage house and stable, a blacksmith and wheelwright shop, a gristmill and a general store. The Batsto Post Office, established in 1852, still processes mail with a postmark having no zip code.

The popular fair will provide visitors to the South Jersey historical area with many opportunities to experience the joys of country life from when Batsto was founded in 1766 and right up to the current day. The fair will offer crafts, exhibits, music, old-time engines and cars, food, antiques, pony rides, farm equipment, chain-saw art, quilting, and more authentic South Jersey country attractions.

About the Country Living Fair batstovillage.org/country-living-fair.htm.

Directions to the village batstovillage.org/road-directions.htm

Learn more about Batsto Village batstovillage.org

More about Wharton Stae Forest state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/wharton.html

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/

Before They Are Endangered

A recent article from the Press of Atlantic City, reminds us that protecting New Jersey's snakes, birds, frogs and other animals and plants BEFORE they are endangered is really the goal of conservationists.

In that article, the focus is on effort in the far-from-barren NJ Pinelands. The post online includes a video and follows Emile DeVito, an expert on endangered species in the 1.1-million-acre Pinelands National Reserve, who studies the rarest plants and animals.

Those species include the Pickering’s morning glory and the iconic Pine Barrens tree frog.

The Pickering's morning glory is not currently listed in NJ and so its rarity makes it the kind of species that needs attention (and will not get as much federal or state funding support) so that it is not overlooked and it moves to a threatened or endangered status.

Current limited range for the Pine Barrens treefrog

The Pine Barrens treefrog is another kind of species case study. In 1979, iy was listed as an endangered species in New Jersey due to its restricted range, declining population, habitat loss, and pollution of breeding ponds. But conservation efforts moved the treefrog population to a point that it is currently considered stable.

New Jersey serves as a stronghold for this species throughout its entire range. In areas of suitable habitat, they may seem abundant. However, protection of this species is warranted, as quality habitat is limited to specialized Pine Barrens ecosystems patchily distributed throughout its range.

 Flower of Stylisma pickeringii Pickering's Dawnflower or Pickering's Morning Glory, near Batsto, New Jersey.
via Wikimedia

Conservationists have long known that addressing species in decline before they reach the the stages of being threatened or endangered is the real goal.

As members of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, New Jersey Audubon and the NJDEP track species, they can identify important habitat for that species.

For example, the docile pine snake can be tracked using implanted transmitters that allow us to discover winter dens and nesting sites.

Pine snake moving across sandy soil

We have more than 80 species of wildlife from mammals to birds to insects in New Jersey that are considered endangered or threatened. (See list at www.state.nj.us) There are also dozens of plants that are in danger that probably get less attention than the "sexier" wildlifr.

Some habitats that need protectionare less than intuitive spaces. For example, Ryan Rebozo, director of conservation science at the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, says that the edges of roads in the Pinelands could replace some lost open areas, such as those lost by dousing fires that naturally create suitable habitat. But too often road departments are mowing these areas at inopportune times when some rare plants are flowering. He estimates that 11,000 acres of road edges could be suitable habitat for some of our rare plants, such as the the Pine Barrens gentian, which needs direct sunlight and flowers later in the fall when mowing is common.

As important as education and information, such as this post, can be, it alone isn’t going to save species. People, especially volunteers and the general public, need to take action.

Double Trouble State Park

I am a big fan of the Pinelands (AKA The Pine Barrens) and as the weather warms up, you might want to visit some of the state parks that are in that area.

The property that makes up Double Trouble State Park was purchased by New Jersey in 1964. Besides recreational opportunities, it afforded a way to help protect the Cedar Creek watershed.

The Double Trouble Historic District was placed on the State Register of Historic Places in 1977 and on the National Register in 1978.

This park, located in Lacey and Berkeley Townships, offers visitors a great place for a simple walk, bicycling and horseback riding on the easy trails and sand roads throughout the park. The Double Trouble Historic District has a self-guided, marked 1.5-mile loop nature trail and several miles of unmarked paths along sand service roads. Nature trail guides are available at the trailhead next to the cranberry packing house and at the park information building.

There is no entrance fee.

Cedar Creek offers canoeing and kayaking opportunities. Cedar Creek from Bamber Lake to Barnegat Bay runs approximately 9 miles.

There are 8,500 acres in this Pine Barrens ecosystem which was once the site of cranberry bogs. Going back to the Civil War, Atlantic white cedar swamps were cleared and converted into cranberry bogs and into the early 20th century, the Double Trouble Company ran one of our state's largest cranberry operations.

Cranberry harvest at Double Trouble State Park - photo by George Mar

You can take tours of the historic Double Trouble Village which was associated with cranberry agriculture as well as earlier Atlantic white cedar logging and milling.

The interesting name of the area supposedly comes from a time when beavers and muskrats were gnawing holes in a dam on the mill pond. On a day when two leaks were discovered simultaneously at the site, a worker is said to have exclaimed "There's double trouble."

• Double Trouble State Park: www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/double.html
• Download Double Trouble Historic Village Guide
• Download Double Trouble General Information & Maps

Rally for the Pine Barrens

From the NJ Sierra Club:

The Pinelands are under attack and we must fight back Monday, March 14th! 40 years ago the Pinelands Act was passed to preserve and protect one of the most ecologically important areas in our country. Now the Governor Christie is trying to Pave over the Pinelands. 

Instead of protecting the Pinelands, our Governor is systematically replacing Pinelands Commissions with political cronies and pushing inappropriate development, all in his attempts to weaken the Comprehensive Management Plan. The Administration has proposed one thing after another to weaken protections, including allowing sewers and stormwater retention basins in the Pinelands, soccer fields on preserved farms, and Off-Road Vehicles in Wharton State Forest, but there may be worse to come. 

The Christie Administration is trying to push through two natural gas pipelines that will threaten an area known for its biodiversity, risk 17 trillion gallons of clean water, while adding a tremendous amount of air pollution. Two years ago, in an environmental victory, the Pinelands Commission voted down the South Jersey Gas pipeline. Now, the Commission’s Executive Director, who is a political crony of Christie, is trying to rubberstamp the South Jersey Gas Pipeline in the Pinelands Forest Preservation Area without a vote or scrutiny by the Commissioners. 

The South Jersey Gas pipeline’s purpose is to keep open the B.L. England power plant, which will be the biggest polluter and greenhouse gas emitter in South Jersey. The New Jersey Natural Gas pipeline will also cut a scar through the Pinelands and is purposed to bring more development to our coast. Both of these pipelines violate the Comprehensive Management Plan because they go through the Forest Preservation Area, where such development is prohibited without benefiting the people living in the Pinelands. These are the biggest threats to the Pinelands since the Act was passed! 

We must demand our legislators and state agencies take action to Protect the Pinelands this Monday, March 14th in Trenton! Join us and other environmental organizations to march from the NJDEP Offices to the Patriots Theater for a rally (about a 15-minute walk). After the rally, you will be able to go to the State House and lobby your representatives to strengthen and enforce Pinelands protections. 

Rally and Lobby Day Details, Monday March 14th

Arrive at NJDEP for March: 8:30 AM, NJ Department of Environmental Protection, 401 East State Street, Trenton NJ 

Rally at Patriots Theater at the War Memorial: 9:30 AM, Trenton War Memorial: Memorial Dr., Trenton, NJ 08608 

Lobby Legislators at State House: 10:30 AM- 12:00 PM Noon, NJ Statehouse 125 W State St, Trenton, NJ 08608 

For RSVP and Rain Location Please e-mail: Toni Granato at toni.granato@sierraclub.org. 

Other Details: Please Wear a green shirt and bring a sign!

Parking: Street meter parking or at various private garages, including behind 22 S. Clinton Ave for the NJDEP. Enter the garage entrance at driveway at middle of S. Clinton Ave. For more information about parking in Trenton and possible carpools, please e-mail Toni at toni.granato@sierraclub.org.

State Regulators Approve South Jersey Gas Pipeline Project

A proposed 21.6-mile, 24-inch diameter natural gas pipeline to serve the B.L. England power plant at Beesley's Point, NJ  "is reasonably necessary for the service, convenience or welfare of the public," according to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), which has approved South Jersey Gas Company's (SJG) petition for the project.

The decision came nearly two years after the New Jersey Pinelands Commission rejected an SJG proposal to build part of the $90 million pipeline through the Pinelands National Reserve, despite support for the project from Gov. Chris Christie, the DEP, the BPU and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

While most of the project is set to be constructed within right-of-ways, about 15 miles of the pipeline would travel beneath existing paved portions or roadway shoulders within the Pinelands. SJG filed an amendment to its project application with the New Jersey Pinelands Commission in May. The amendment responded to comments and issues raised during the commission's Memorandum of Agreement process and accounted for changed circumstances since the January 2014 vote.

naturalgasintel.com/articles/104790-state-regulators-approve-south-jersey-gas-pipeline-project

nj.com/cape-may-county/index.ssf/2015/12/natural_gas_pipeline_overcomes_major_hurdle

The Jersey Devil Reappears

The Jersey Devils hockey team has started its season. Halloween is about two weeks away. And the legendary Jersey Devil has reappeared. Maybe. Well, it has at least reappeared in the media.

The legend of the Jersey Devil dates back for centuries. Hundreds of people have reported seeing the creature, but despite extensive searches, no one has proven its existence.

These tales are more likely the domain of places like StuffTheyDontWantYouToKnow.com and Weird N.J. than this blog, but I do find it fun.

And, starting with much doubt about authenticity but keeping in mind that Halloween is closing in, I present this latest installment of the JDevil.

This time the report comes via an article on the legitimate news site NJ.com. A Little Egg Harbor resident says he has captured the Jersey Devil in a photo, and then good ol' weirdnj.com posted a video from a woman who claims to have recorded the Jersey Devil flying by.

My much younger sons prepared for
a Jersey Devil search in the Pine Barrens

When my sons were a lot younger and we did a lot of camping, we would sometimes stay in the Jersey Pine Barrens (AKA Pinelands). Those overnighters always included a hunt for the creature.

I would read them a a kid's book about the legend as we sat in front of the campfire and watch the shadows moving around us and heard creepy night sounds like the call of a barred owl. (I would tell them that some people say that owl is saying "Who cooks for you?" but I said what we were hearing was more like "He wants to get you."

We even had a TV show visit the state in search of Bigfoot (AKA Sasquatch).

If you like to play armchair cryptozoologist, and if you were to search for either of these creatures, you would certainly want to look for them in the Pine Barrens.

The Pine Barrens (AKA the Pinelands or simply the Pines) is a large, heavily forested area of coastal plain. 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 New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve contains approximately 1,100,000 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 name "pine barrens" is kind of a misnomer because it is hardly barren. The name refers to the area's sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soil in which colonists could not cultivate their familiar crops. It actually has a great diversity of plant life, including orchids and carnivorous plants, and several threatened and endangered species of wildlife. It is known for its cranberry bogs and the rare pygmy Pitch Pines and other plant species that actually depend on the frequent fires of the Pine Barrens to reproduce.

The Pinelands are a great place to visit, and a great place to live if you are a legendary creature.

In case you were wondering, there is a Jersey Devil action figure.

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Not that Bruce believes in Mrs. Leed's 13th child, but he did record

 "A Night With The Jersey Devil." 

Here is Episode 102 on The Jersey Devil from Stuff They Don't Want You To Know

More Jersey Devil Fun, Reading and Viewing

• Wikipedia has a nice page on the Jersey Devil 
• Sightings have been collected at www.njdevilhunters.com
• The Jersey Devil
• Tales Of The Jersey Devil
• Mystery of the Jersey Devil 

Public Hearing on Pinelands Pipeline July 28

On the Tuesday July 28th the BPU is holding a public hearing concerning NJNG’s proposal to put a pipeline in the Pinelands.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) is considering a proposal by New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) to put a pipeline through the Pinelands.

Environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club, are convinced this pipeline will not only create an ugly scar through the Pinelands and open space in New Jersey, but it will destroy habitat, pollute high quality streams, rivers, and cut across important C1 waterways.

The proposed pipeline would be 28 miles and go through Burlington, Monmouth, and Ocean counties. The route would cross through the Joint Base area in the Preservation Area established by the Pinelands Protection Act, which is supposed to get the highest level of protection.

The Pinelands are a United Nations biosphere reserve and one of the largest sources of fresh drinking water on the east coast. The Pinelands is the largest wild place left in the most densely populated region of the country. There are plants and amphibious species that are found no other place in the world. Our drinking water would be impacted if NJNG pipeline is approved.

Many of us agree that there is a need to protect the Pinelands. The meeting is a chance to make your voice heard. The meetings will be held Tuesday July 28 at 3:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M. at Manchester Township Municipal Building, One Colonial Drive, Manchester, NJ 08759.

More
sierraclub.org/new-jersey/pinelands-pipeline
pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/atlantic/environmental-activists-protest-gas-pipeline-at-stockton-forum/

Newly Discovered Insect Species in the NJ Pine Barrens May Already Be Threatened

A male F. whitcombi leafhopper. Credit: Andrew Hicks

A new grass-eating species of insect was discovered to be living in the Jersey Pine Barrens of New Jersey. This leafhopper (Flexamia whitcombi) had previously escaped notice. - and at least one scientist worried that it might not be around for very much longer.

Unfortunately, this leafhopper depends on a single species of New Jersey grass, the pine barren smokegrass, for its food. Smokegrass is on the state's threatened species list. There are over 800 endangered plants and species of special concern in NJ.

M. torreyana pinebarren smokegrass    Credit: Uri Lorimer

As of now, scientists don't know for sure if the insect lives in the other regions of the eastern U.S. where the smokegrass also grows ( Tennessee and North Carolina).

If the leafhopper is unique to the Pine Barrens, there's a particular reason for concern, even though its food source is still relatively abundant there. Andrew Hicks of the Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado writes:

 "The Pine Barrens are already suffering the effects of a warming climate, as evidenced by the recent irruption there of the Southern Pine Beetle. Should the effects of climate change or other anthropomorphic pressures cause the local extinction of the host (as has apparently already occurred elsewhere in its range), there will be little opportunity for the survival of this Flexamia. But that might be said of most species described today."

Sources:
washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/
www.nj.com

In Search of the Jersey Devil

I can't say that the Jersey Devil is endangered or threatened because I can't say that it ever existed, but the legend of the Jersey Devil dates back for centuries. Hundreds of people have reported seeing the creature, but despite extensive searches, no one has proven its existence.

The folks at StuffTheyDontWantYouToKnow.com love this kind of stuff. They love conspiracy theories  (Their Facebook page is facebook.com/ConspiracyStuff ) and fringe science and beliefs, and I'll admit to enjoying watching their little videos (like the one below) even if I think almost all of it is untrue.

I will also read issues of Weird N.J. in search of oddities in my part of Jersey.

When my sons were quite young and we would go camping in the Pinelands, we always were looking for signs of the Jersey Devil.

I read them the story and showed them the pictures. It made for some great bedtime stories around the fire before they curled up in their sleeping bags.

After storytime, if they heard the call of a barred owl outside our tent, they did not hear it saying "Who cooks for you?" but rather something more sinister like "He wants to get you."

When you're 5 years old, it's easier to believe.