1. A Tour of the New Jersey Pinelands
Welcome to
A Tour of the New Jersey Pinelands
Day 1

2. The Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands or simply the Pines, is a heavily forested area stretching across more than seven counties of New Jersey!
East Brunswick

3. The Pinelands includes 1
The Pinelands includes 1.1 million acres of the largest tract of open space between Boston and Washington D.C.
Densely populated areas of people are shown in orange. How can the actions these populated areas affect the Pinelands? 3

4. Population Density (people per square mile)
State
Population
Size
(square miles)
Population Density (people per square mile)
New Jersey
8,807,501
7,417
1,171
Rhode Island
1,053,209
1,214
1,005
Massachusetts
6,559,644
7,840
829
Alaska
698,473
570,373
1.2
National Average
307,006,550
3,790,000 96

5. Make a Claim…
What might the prefix “aqua” mean? With this in mind, what could the term “aquifer” be referring to?

6. Beneath the Pine Barrens there are a few sandy layers that contain enough water for human use. These water bearing zones are known as aquifers.

7. The most important aquifer is the Kirkwood - Cohansey aquifer, since it is the shallowest, and provides water to streams, rivers and wetlands.

8. What might be the dominant species in an area called the Pinelands?
Make a Claim…
What might be the dominant species in an area called the Pinelands?

9. Of the several thousand species of plants native to New Jersey, only about 550 species were known to occur in the Pine Barrens

10. Plant Traits

11. Curly Grass Fern Bog Asphodel
Curly-grass Fern is probably the most famous plant of the Pine Barrens. Some of the fronds (ends) look fern-like, but others look like tiny curly blades of grass. This plant along with Bog Asphodel are rare and a conservation priority!

12. Pine Barrens Gentian
Swamp Pink
Pine Barrens Gentian, Bog Asphodel, and Swamp Pink are wetland flowers that are threatened or endangered globally and nationally, yet are locally abundant in the Pinelands!

13. Pitcher Plants Carnivorous
Downward facing hairs and slippery walls ensure that insects can’t get back out once they enter
Enzymes break down the body and absorb the nutrients
Why would they do this? Think about what the soil may be lacking here!

14. Hair-like triggers snap shut to catch organisms
Bladderworts
The plant send shoots of flowers above the water surface to entice pollinating insects
Hair-like triggers snap shut to catch organisms

15. Sun Dews
Flattened shape with sticky hairs strap insects and trigger the sun shape to snap shut.

16. Pinelands Geologic History
Much of the land within the 1.1 million acre Pinelands National Reserve contains soils developed from the Cohansey geologic formation. These soils are mostly sand, although some thin clay soil layers are present.
The a lot of sand means Pinelands soils drain water quickly, do not retain nutrients and organic matter very well, and are highly acidic.

17. Pinelands Geologic History
As precipitation drains quickly through Pine Barrens soils, drained with this the organic matter- the particles of decomposed pine needles, leaves and animal bodies that have the nutrients plants need.
Even though the Pinelands may receive the same amount of rainfall as other parts of New Jersey, the water moves so quickly through the sandy soil that little moisture and few nutrients are kept!

18. Why are Pine Barrens soil and water so acidic?
Even unpolluted rainwater is somewhat acidic, and “acid rain” can be very acidic. Most soils have the ability to buffer, or neutralize, this acidity.
The Pine Barrens’ sandy soils do not have this ability, because they do not hold the minerals and organic matter that do this buffering in richer soils.

19. How would the type/quality of the soil relate to farming?

20. Elizabeth White
She had an interest in cultivating the land and blueberries love acidic soil.
She worked with Dr. Coville from the US Department of agriculture to cultivate a species of blueberries that was not grown naturally

21. Blueberries Love The Acidic Sandy Soil Of The Pine Barrens

22. Blueberry And Cranberry Picking- Italian Immigrants Came From Philadelphia By Train To Harvest The Berries.

23. Dry Harvest: Cranberries are hand picked

24. Cranberries Wet Harvest:
Hollowed land filled with water when cranberries are ripe.
Machine shakes the berries they float
Ocean Spray has many bogs in the pinelands

25. Colliers Mills

26. Charcoal makers are also known as wood colliers.
Traditional wood collier shelters were built using poles lashed together to form a teepee which were then covered in sacks and brushwood with turf stacked on top to keep the weather out. The turf was layered to provide an efficient seal.
Timber collected is cut and left to dry out, with the drying process usually taking between six months and a year to complete.
Once dry, the wood is split lengthways sections of about 3 feet in order to fit into the kiln. Charcoal is made by heating wood to a temperature of over 270°C in the absence of air.

27. Rivers run slowly with lots of iron in them
Iron settles to the bottom and is harvested
This iron is then put in a furnace.
Iron comes out one side of a contraption and the “slag” or waste, comes out the other side.
It is poured into long strips and used for wheels, cooking tools etc…

28. Bog iron
Soil scientists feel that the underlying brown sandy layers in the Pinelands are the result of iron compounds and fine humus particles leaching downward through the soils to the water table level in the summer. This leaching of iron compounds is part of the process by which bog iron is formed.
Bog iron is often seen in stream beds and was important in the manufacture of cannon and shot used by George Washington's troops during the Revolutionary War.

29. Sphagnum Moss
A useful material for early settlers. It can hold up to 32 times its weight in water!
Many Native Americans used this for healing wounds and as diapers for their babies.

30. Food For Thought
In spite of all of these resources the early settlers still chose to name the area “Pine Barrens”.
Why did the early settlers choose to stay?
What DID the area provide?

31. Closure
Why did early settlers call the area known as the Pinelands the “Pine Barrens”.
Answer:
In the beginning when they tried to plant traditional crops (potatoes and wheat) they were unsuccessful because of the poor quality soil.