Chapter 9: The woodlands is about the various lands of forestry that make up parts of New Jersey. The forests of New Jersey a in other states, if not protected, are in danger of being torn down by the government's want to have open lang for suburbanization or urbanization, similarly to what happened in Philadelphia and New York City. Being a Philadelphia resident I have seen this myself. It is a big city with not too many areas of trees. We have some parks, but they are mostly open land and some are areas with many trees such as the Pennypack park. The park covers more than 1,600 acres of woodlands, meadows, wetlands and fields. Below you can see two images of the park. It is a beautiful and large area, but Philadelphia lacks in these areas, although Pennsylvania as a whole does not.
Despite the government's want to knock down many trees, the Forest Service of NJ and other fellow New Jersian's are trying to preserve what they have of its forestry. "As a result there are many huge forest tracts in New Jersey filled with more than ninety species of trees. Most of these are protected in parks or wildlife preserves purchased by prescient legislators to keep the state's uplands pristine and its lowland swamps shaded and covered with pine needles and cedar bark" (151). Because of the groups of people willing to fight and protect their beautiful lands, New Jersey has such a unique set of forestry with many different species that can't be found in some other states. Forests cover much of the state of New Jersey, but still it "is less than half of what it was in 1956, a loss of more than a million acres" (152). The need for the forestry is great and not just that alone, but healthy forests. They are vital to a multitude of life sustaining processes. They "protect water quality, supply recreation activities, and protect historical, aesthetic, and cultural resources present within the forests" (153). They also remain home to tons of tiny critters and larger animals as well, so they are of great importance. The Pinelands International Biosphere Reserve is one of the protected lands; internationally protected and spans more than a million acres in NJ and occupies 22% of the state's landmass. The Pinelands was given this protection because houses were being built and it was taking away from the land. To keep the land within its boundaries and as a fire management tool, the New Jersey Forest Service would have prescribed burns. A prescribed burn is defined as "the skillful application of fire under exacting conditions of weather and fuel in a predetermined area, for a specific purpose to achieve specific results" (157). I found this interesting that they basically fight fire with fire. The burn creates an area of dead ground in the forest and if a wildfire breaks out, the tactic is to set backfires that push it into the dead ground, thus killing its energy and dying it out. Threats to Forests go beyond forest fires and include various pollutants and changes in climate. These make it difficult to change New Jersey's forestry and even sometimes to maintain it. "Without biological integrity, without protection against invasive species that choke our woodlands, without a biological mosaic of preserved habitats to match our state’s natural needs, we will all live in a concrete jungle of our own design, devoid of wildlife and trees" (169). This would destroy us all (animals and humans) as trees and plant help clean the air and protect our water from various pollutants as well. Fortunately there are wildlife biologists to protect the wildlife within the forests and NJ Forest Services that help protect the trees. Many people take part in trying to help protect and maintain the biodiversity of not only New Jersey, but the world.
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Gabriella Brycea Junior at Seton Hall University studying Elementary and Special education with Environmental Studies. Archives
April 2018
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