Post by Abraxas on May 16, 2011 12:21:40 GMT -5
The Pine Barrens are part of 1.1 million acres of the Pine lands National Reserve, which ranges from northern Ocean County south and west, and occupies 22% of New Jersey's land area. It is the largest body of open space on the Mid-Atlantic seaboard between Richmond and Boston, covering vast areas in Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Atlantic Counties as well. This vast region is 2/3 privately and 1/3 publicly owned. There are numerous State parks and forests here, including Wharton, Lebanon, Bass River, Belleplain, Island Beach and Colliers Mills.
(LAKES)
Few people realize that these are truly unique streams containing a very unusual fauna and flora. They are confined largely to the coastal plains of the United States, and are commonly called "Blackwater Streams". The substrate through which they flow is sand and gravel, commonly referred to as an unconsolidated substrate. Underlying most of these streams is the large Cohansey Formation, which is a great underground aquifer of water. Its area is about 2,000 square miles, and it is estimated to reach a depth of 37 feet in some places. This formation is seldom more than 20 feet below the surface, and as a result, it greatly influences the surface waters. In the summer these streams are relatively cool, generally being below 25'C, and in winter they rarely freeze.
White cedar swamps, sphagnum, and cranberry bogs drain into the stream channels of these river basins. Scattered through the river systems are lakes formed by man's damming of the streams.
The black or brown water color is caused by large amounts of humates? arising from the drainage of the swamp's vegetation. These streams are very acid the pH varies from about 3.6 to 5.2 with a mean around 4.4. Typically, they also have very low amounts of alkaline metals and the oxygen content is usually lower than in a circumneutral stream. However, if these streams receive pollution resulting from sanitary wastes and farming wastes, from fertilizers applied to cranberry bogs and stands of blueberries, and from other types of agricultural activities, these characteristics may be considerably altered. The usual effects of such pollutants are to raise the pH and increase the organic 16ad, the nitrates and the phosphates in the water.
Another characteristic of these streams is an orange to yellowish-brown flocculent material often seen near the banks, particularly in slow-flowing water. This is iron oxide formed by bacteria such as Leptothrix ochracea. It is this bacterium, and others that are similar, that oxidizes the iron present in the water and causes these large orange to brown colored flocs.
One finds few freshwater clams and snails in these waters because they require calcium to form their shells. Crustacea are typically scarce in waters with a pH below 6. Many fishes, such as bluegills, yellow perch, golden shiner and calico bass do not reproduce in water with a very low pH. The pickerel is one fish that seems to reproduce and be successful under these acid water conditions.
Vertebrates characteristic of, or confined to, these acid streams are the frogs, Rana virgatipes and Hyla andersonii, and such fish as the mud sunfish, the banded sunfish and the chub sucker.
River is easy to navigate; it has a slow current and not too many turns. Occasionally fallen trees both in and out of the water have have to be circumvented.
A Time-line History of the Pinelands
170 to 200 million years ago Atlantic Coastal Plain begins to form.
100 million years ago Start of sequence in which the Atlantic Ocean repeatedly covered the coastal plain and then withdrew, depositing layers of geologic material now beneath the Pinelands.
10,000 years ago End of the last Ice Age; present plant and animal populations begin to develop; earliest native Americans appear.
1624 Exploration of coastal inlets and bays reported.
1674 Earliest permanent European settlers occupy area north of present Burlington County line.
1700 - 1760 Many hamlets and coastal towns settled based on shipbuilding, commerce and timber-based trades.
1700 - present Transportation network, roads and railroads, built throughout the Pinelands. U. S. Route 9, the Shore Road, is an historic road that runs along the coast in what is now the Pinelands National Reserve.
1758 Brotherton Reservation, this country's first Indian reservation, is established at Indian Mills in Shamong Township, Burlington County.
1760 - 1860 Iron, charcoal, and glass industries flourish.
1830 New Jersey census lists 655 sawmills in the state; today there are about 75 sawmills in the state.
1840 John Webb establishes New Jersey's first cranberry bog in Ocean County near Cassville.
1864 L.N. Renault Winery established in Galloway Township.
1878 Joseph Wharton, a Philadelphia financier, proposes exporting Pinelands water to Philadelphia. The New Jersey legislature rules against this.
1905 New Jersey State Forest Service established.
1916 Elizabeth White of Whitesbog, Burlington County, in cooperation with Dr. F. V. Coville of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, develops the first cultivated blueberry.
1917 Fort Dix, U.S. Army training base in Burlington and Ocean Counties, is the first major federal facility established in the Pinelands.
1920's Medford Lakes, Burlington County, is developed as a summer colony with many of its buildings designed in a log cabin style.
1920's Russian immigrants settle at Rova Farm in Jackson Township, Ocean County. This is one of several ethnic settlements located in the Pinelands today.
1926 The first State Forest Nursery for growing tree seedlings for sale to landowners throughout New Jersey is established.
1928 Emilio Carranza, a Mexican aviator on the return leg of a goodwill flight between Mexico and New York, dies in a Pinelands airplane crash during a thunderstorm on July 13th. A memorial to him is located on Carranza Road in Tabernacle Township, Burlington County. There is an annual memorial service held at the monument on the Saturday closest to the date of his crash. The service is open to the public.
1929 - 1941 The Blue Comet, New Jersey Central's luxury coach train, provides service between New York and Atlantic City and stops at Pinelands towns like Lakewood, Lakehurst, and Hammonton.
1948 A program of prescribed burning, a practice that is continued today, is established in New Jersey.
1955 State of New Jersey acquires 100,000-acre Wharton Tract as state forest.
1963 A series of wildfires in the Pinelands burns over 183,000 acres during the weekend of April 20-21. This is the largest wildfire in the recorded history of the region.
1978 Section 502 of the National Parks and Recreation Act establishes the Pinelands National Reserve.
(LAKES)
Few people realize that these are truly unique streams containing a very unusual fauna and flora. They are confined largely to the coastal plains of the United States, and are commonly called "Blackwater Streams". The substrate through which they flow is sand and gravel, commonly referred to as an unconsolidated substrate. Underlying most of these streams is the large Cohansey Formation, which is a great underground aquifer of water. Its area is about 2,000 square miles, and it is estimated to reach a depth of 37 feet in some places. This formation is seldom more than 20 feet below the surface, and as a result, it greatly influences the surface waters. In the summer these streams are relatively cool, generally being below 25'C, and in winter they rarely freeze.
White cedar swamps, sphagnum, and cranberry bogs drain into the stream channels of these river basins. Scattered through the river systems are lakes formed by man's damming of the streams.
The black or brown water color is caused by large amounts of humates? arising from the drainage of the swamp's vegetation. These streams are very acid the pH varies from about 3.6 to 5.2 with a mean around 4.4. Typically, they also have very low amounts of alkaline metals and the oxygen content is usually lower than in a circumneutral stream. However, if these streams receive pollution resulting from sanitary wastes and farming wastes, from fertilizers applied to cranberry bogs and stands of blueberries, and from other types of agricultural activities, these characteristics may be considerably altered. The usual effects of such pollutants are to raise the pH and increase the organic 16ad, the nitrates and the phosphates in the water.
Another characteristic of these streams is an orange to yellowish-brown flocculent material often seen near the banks, particularly in slow-flowing water. This is iron oxide formed by bacteria such as Leptothrix ochracea. It is this bacterium, and others that are similar, that oxidizes the iron present in the water and causes these large orange to brown colored flocs.
One finds few freshwater clams and snails in these waters because they require calcium to form their shells. Crustacea are typically scarce in waters with a pH below 6. Many fishes, such as bluegills, yellow perch, golden shiner and calico bass do not reproduce in water with a very low pH. The pickerel is one fish that seems to reproduce and be successful under these acid water conditions.
Vertebrates characteristic of, or confined to, these acid streams are the frogs, Rana virgatipes and Hyla andersonii, and such fish as the mud sunfish, the banded sunfish and the chub sucker.
River is easy to navigate; it has a slow current and not too many turns. Occasionally fallen trees both in and out of the water have have to be circumvented.
A Time-line History of the Pinelands
170 to 200 million years ago Atlantic Coastal Plain begins to form.
100 million years ago Start of sequence in which the Atlantic Ocean repeatedly covered the coastal plain and then withdrew, depositing layers of geologic material now beneath the Pinelands.
10,000 years ago End of the last Ice Age; present plant and animal populations begin to develop; earliest native Americans appear.
1624 Exploration of coastal inlets and bays reported.
1674 Earliest permanent European settlers occupy area north of present Burlington County line.
1700 - 1760 Many hamlets and coastal towns settled based on shipbuilding, commerce and timber-based trades.
1700 - present Transportation network, roads and railroads, built throughout the Pinelands. U. S. Route 9, the Shore Road, is an historic road that runs along the coast in what is now the Pinelands National Reserve.
1758 Brotherton Reservation, this country's first Indian reservation, is established at Indian Mills in Shamong Township, Burlington County.
1760 - 1860 Iron, charcoal, and glass industries flourish.
1830 New Jersey census lists 655 sawmills in the state; today there are about 75 sawmills in the state.
1840 John Webb establishes New Jersey's first cranberry bog in Ocean County near Cassville.
1864 L.N. Renault Winery established in Galloway Township.
1878 Joseph Wharton, a Philadelphia financier, proposes exporting Pinelands water to Philadelphia. The New Jersey legislature rules against this.
1905 New Jersey State Forest Service established.
1916 Elizabeth White of Whitesbog, Burlington County, in cooperation with Dr. F. V. Coville of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, develops the first cultivated blueberry.
1917 Fort Dix, U.S. Army training base in Burlington and Ocean Counties, is the first major federal facility established in the Pinelands.
1920's Medford Lakes, Burlington County, is developed as a summer colony with many of its buildings designed in a log cabin style.
1920's Russian immigrants settle at Rova Farm in Jackson Township, Ocean County. This is one of several ethnic settlements located in the Pinelands today.
1926 The first State Forest Nursery for growing tree seedlings for sale to landowners throughout New Jersey is established.
1928 Emilio Carranza, a Mexican aviator on the return leg of a goodwill flight between Mexico and New York, dies in a Pinelands airplane crash during a thunderstorm on July 13th. A memorial to him is located on Carranza Road in Tabernacle Township, Burlington County. There is an annual memorial service held at the monument on the Saturday closest to the date of his crash. The service is open to the public.
1929 - 1941 The Blue Comet, New Jersey Central's luxury coach train, provides service between New York and Atlantic City and stops at Pinelands towns like Lakewood, Lakehurst, and Hammonton.
1948 A program of prescribed burning, a practice that is continued today, is established in New Jersey.
1955 State of New Jersey acquires 100,000-acre Wharton Tract as state forest.
1963 A series of wildfires in the Pinelands burns over 183,000 acres during the weekend of April 20-21. This is the largest wildfire in the recorded history of the region.
1978 Section 502 of the National Parks and Recreation Act establishes the Pinelands National Reserve.