History

The Story of the Event & Region

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History

2022 is the first year of the Pinelands Gravel Ride

 

The New Jersey Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands or simply the Pines, is the largest remaining example of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecosystem, stretching across more than seven counties of New Jersey.

The name pine barrens refers to the area’s sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soil. Although European settlers could not cultivate their familiar crops there, the unique ecology of the Pine Barrens supports a diverse spectrum of plant life.  The area is also notable for its populations of rare pygmy pitch pines and other plant species that depend on the frequent fires of the Pine Barrens to reproduce. The sand that composes much of the area’s soil is referred to by the locals as sugar sand.

The Pine Barrens remains mostly rural and undisturbed despite its proximity to the sprawling metropolitan cities of Philadelphia and New York City,  Pine Barrens territory helps recharge the 17-trillion-US-gallon Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer containing some of the purest water in the United States.  As a result of all these factors, in 1978 Congress passed legislation to designate 1.1 million acres of the Pine Barrens as the Pinelands National Reserve (the nation’s first National Reserve) to preserve its ecology.

The Pinelands Reserve contains the Wharton, Brendan T. Byrne (formerly Lebanon), Penn, and Bass River state forests. The reserve also includes two National Wild and Scenic Rivers: the Maurice and the Great Egg Harbor.