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New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve (also known as Pinelands National Reserve) preserves the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
The Pinelands is a unique ecosystem of historic villages and berry farms amid vast oak-pine forests (pine barrens), extensive wetlands, and diverse species of plants and animals. It is protected by state and federal legislation through management by local, state, and federal governments and the private sector. The reserve contains Wharton State Forest, Brendan T. Byrne State Forest and Bass River State Forest, which provide public recreation facilites. It was the nation's first national reserveNational Park Service: New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve, accessed July 6, 2006.
Administrative history
Authorized November 10, 1978. Designated a biosphere reserve 1983. The reserve is managed by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission, and is an affiliated area of the National Park Service.
The commission was created by an act of the New Jersey Legislature in 1979 - the Pinelands Act. Its mission statement indicates its role "is to preserve, protect, and enhance the natural and cultural resources of the Pinelands National Reserve, and to encourage compatible economic and other human activities consistent with that purpose." It consists of 15 commissioners, of whom seven are appointed by the Governor of New Jersey subject to the approval of the New Jersey Senate. Another seven commissioners are to be appointed, one each, by the seven New Jersey counties affected by the Pinelands Act: Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Ocean Counties. The 15th and final commissioner is appointed by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. Commission terms are three years in length and include no official compensation. The commission meets monthly, as do most of its sub-committees.
References
Source
- The National Parks: Index 2001-2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.
External links
- National Park Service: New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve
- New Jersey Pinelands Commission
- Burlington County: Pinelands Fact Sheet
National Reserves of the United States | New Jersey | Atlantic County, New Jersey | Burlington County, New Jersey | Camden County, New Jersey | Cape May County, New Jersey | Cumberland County, New Jersey | Gloucester County, New Jersey | Ocean County, New Jersey
"New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve"