page_title: Pine Barrens (New Jersey)
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Pine Barrens (New Jersey) / Geography
caption_attribution_description: The late-afternoon sun shining through smoke during the 2007 Pine Barrens forest fire. The photograph was taken from Barnegat Light, New Jersey.
context_page_description: 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. Two other large, contiguous examples of this ecosystem remain: the Long Island Central Pine Barrens, and the Massachusetts Coastal Pine Barrens. 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, including orchids and carnivorous plants. 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, in the center of the very densely populated Boston-Washington Corridor on the Eastern Seaboard.
context_section_description: The New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve contains approximately 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km²) of land, and occupies 22% of New Jersey's land area, including territory of much of seven counties. Counties affected by the act are Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Ocean.
  The Pine Barrens comprise a major part of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion.
  The forest is at risk from increasing development in the area.
  Although natural fires have occurred, evidence shows that most fires in the region are of human origin.
caption: The 2007 forest fire viewed from Barnegat Light
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