I believe it. Standing in a piney forest, eye level with the tops of tiny pine trees, it's easy to see how the unimaginable could become real. Life is just a little different in the Pine Barrens. Rivers run with tawny-colored water. Roads are made of sugary sand, ready to swallow even tow trucks whole.
Pine trees grow only five feet tall.
Many plants and animals indigenous to other parts of New Jersey cannot live in it. Indeed, the first settlers in the region called it the Pine Barrens because none of the usual agricultural crops grew there. Yet it is anything but barren. In fact, it is home to nearly 100 threatened or endangered species, including the Pine Barrens tree frog and the curly grass fern. And, oh, yes, it's got three species of carnivorous plants.