Nature Conservancy donates 3,100 acres of pine barrens to existing preserve

The Forked River Mountains are not really mountains but sand and gravel hills that peak at 184 feet above sea level in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.

But that’s high enough to give hikers a view of a vast, flat, unbroken stretch of forest.

This week, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) donated 3,100 acres in the Forked River Mountain area to Ocean County for permanent preservation. The county had already purchased 7,860 acres of pine barrens for $15.5 million in 2019, including the two ”mountains” known as East Mountain and Pine Hill.

Together, the two tracts now form the 11,100-acre Forked River Mountain Wilderness Area, which will remain natural and open to the public for hiking, bird watching, and other passive recreation. It will be managed under the county’s Natural Lands Trust Program. The area falls within the Pinelands National Reserve.

“This donation is not only adjacent to the largest tract we have acquired under the county’s open space program, but it is also one of the most environmentally sensitive tracts we have purchased under our Natural Lands Trust Program,” Ocean County Commissioner Virginia Haines said in a statement.

Thousands of other areas nearby are already preserved by the county and state, preserving a largely unbroken wilderness of 20,000 acres not far from the coast. Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area and Double Trouble State Park are nearby, as is New Jersey Conservation Foundation’s Candace McKee Ashmun Preserve at Forked River Mountain.

Tricia Aspinwall, land conservation manager for TNC’s New Jersey Chapter, said the global conservation organization donated the 3,100 acres because it felt that the county would better be able to manage it.

The land is within Lacey Township and has been open to the public for hiking, birding, and bicycling, but with few amenities and only a roughly marked trail. TNC also donated $112,000 as an endowment to help protect the land.

“We do routine maintenance and monitoring, but don’t have quite the capacity that other land management agencies do for active management and trail maintenance,” Aspinwall said. “We knew that Ocean County would be a great partner for preservation with plans to really make this a spectacular wilderness area the public can access.”

The land donated by TNC was given to the organization a decade ago by Stephan Leone, a Toms River lawyer and businessman. It contains a forest of pitch pines, scrub oak, Atlantic white cedar, sour gum, and red maple. It is home to a variety of wildlife.

Mark Villinger, supervising planner for Ocean County, said the new acquisition contains the Factory Branch waterway, serving as part of the Forked River watershed that empties into Barnegat Bay.

“This will enhance the adjacent area we acquired in 2019,” Villinger said. We also acquired another 100 acres next to the TNC property. There is an access point already that has been designated as a trailhead proposed on Lacey Road.”

Off-roading vehicles have caused extensive damage to the property despite being illegal. It’s believed the county will be able to better control vehicle use.

Villinger said all of the county’s properties restrict vehicle access to certain areas and prohibit off-roading.

“That is an issue that we deal with similar to throughout the Pinelands,” Villinger said. “And it has done quite a bit of damage to these properties.”

Villinger said about 60% of Ocean County is preserved and that the new land will help “maintain the culture that we have here for the public to enjoy.”

The Nature Conservancy says it has conserved more than 60,000 acres in New Jersey.