Heart
of the Pine Barrens
The largest natural area on the Mid-Atlantic
seaboard, the New Jersey Pine Barrens is a heavily forested
area covering 1.1 million acres and its underground
aquifers contain 17 trillion gallons of the purest drinking
water in the country. The Pinelands National Reserve
was created by Congress under the National Parks and
Recreation Act of 1978. America’s first National
Reserve, the Pine Barrens account for 22 percent of
New Jersey’s land area covering portions of seven
counties and 56 municipalities.
NJCF has been active in land preservation in the region
for over three decades and owns and manages more than
12,000 acres in the Heart of the Pine Barrens, including
the Franklin Parker Preserve, Four Mile Springs Preserve and Evert Trail. NJCF is constantly seeking opportunities
to expand its Pine Barrens preserves and is working
with local organizations to promote eco-tourism. |
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Restoring a Pine Barrens Jewel
| In 2003,
NJCF purchased the 9,400-acre Franklin Parker Preserve,
the largest private land conservation acquisition in
state history. Today, NJCF owns and manages the 14-square-mile
property in partnership with the New Jersey Department
of Environmental Protection (DEP). Adjacent to 250,000
acres of state preserved lands, the preserve is home
to sandy roads that wind through pitch pine forest,
blueberry fields, shallow lakes and pristine streams.
The property is available for passive recreation and
can be accessed by the public from points along County
Routes 563 and 532.
NJCF has initiated several important projects to enhance
public access and to restore the Preserve to its original
wetlands state. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and NJCF
launched a wetlands preservation and restoration project
at the Franklin Parker Preserve – the |
Click for Pine Barrens Map
Click for Franklin Parker Map
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largest NRCS Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) project in the Northeast.
NRCS and NJCF are collaborating on the restoration of 1,100
acres of cranberry bogs and blueberry fields that have been
altered by historic agricultural practices. NJCF is also partnering
with several public and private organizations to restore approximately
150 acres of Atlantic White Cedar forest, which is vital habitat
for many threatened and endangered species. The project is particularly
important since 80 percent of the Pine Parrens cedar swamp have
been lost to non-sustainable timbering practices.
NJCF has launched a $3 million campaign to help fund restoration
and stewardship activities at the Franklin Parker Preserve.
We need your help to restore this ecological treasure which
provides critical habitat to more than 50 rare, threatened
or endangered species. To learn more about this effort, contact
us at 1-888-LANDSAVE or review our online brochure –
Protecting
Wildlife and Water Quality in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
To learn more about NJCF’s preservation work in the
Pine Barrens, please contact Chris Jage, NJCF Assistant Director,
South Jersey, at 1-888-LANDSAVE (1-888-526-3728) or chris@njconservation.org.
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