Pine Barrens

The Pine Barrens of New Jersey is an area of over a million acres, nearly a quarter of the area of the entire state. Despite its proximity to the dense population areas of the East Coast, the area remains wild and undeveloped and one of the great natural places of the United States. It is a National Reserve. Any development within its area is overseen by the Pinelands Commission. Here is an associated factsheet.

Nonfiction writer John McPhee's 1968 book, entitled The Pine Barrens, gives a personal view of the area. A New York Times reviewer said "it will be a long time before another book appears to equal the literary quality and human compassion of this one."