Парки и леса Нью-Джерси: История и современность

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The New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry manages a public park system which consists of over 50 protected areas designated as state parks, state forests, recreation areas, and other properties within the state of New Jersey in the United States. The agency also owns and manages 38 historical sites and buildings throughout the state (some located within the boundaries of state parkland) and also owns five public marinas and four public golf courses. These properties are administered by the Division's State Park Service, founded in 1923. New Jersey's state park system includes properties as small as the Barnegat Lighthouse State Park and as large as the Wharton State Forest. The state park system comprises —roughly 7.7% of New Jersey's land area—and serves over 17.8 million annual visitors.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, New Jersey did not have much of a lumber or forestry industry. The value of its trees was insignificant and undermined by destruction by uncontrolled forest fires, and after decades of clear cutting forests to fuel iron forges, furnaces, and other industrial operations. In 1896, the state geologist recommended the acquisition of land for parks in order to protect water supplies and to provide natural recreation to the state's increasing urban populations. After several years of reports and advocacy of geologists and naturalists (including, notably, U. S. forester Gifford Pinchot), New Jersey governor Edward C. Stokes established the Forest Park Reservation Commission in 1905 to protect forest land and create a system of park reserves within the state. At the commission's meeting on September 12, 1905, the commissioners adopted the Salem Oak (of Salem, New Jersey) as a symbol of New Jersey's parks. The commissioners acquired two tracts in southern New Jersey, near Mays Landing and along the Bass River, as the first state forest reserves. The Mays Landing tract was sold in 1916 after opposition from local officials and landowners made acquisition and expansion on adjacent lands impossible. The Bass River tract became the core of Bass River State Forest. In 1907, the commissioners would also acquire on Kittatinny Mountain near Culver's Gap, supplemented by a gift from Governor Stokes, which would become the core of Stokes State Forest. The reservations, which by 1912 comprised became sites for studying forests, reforestation projects, and scientific forestry. With the acquisition of a tract that included Swartswood Lake in Stillwater Township, the commission began developing parks for the purposes of recreation by providing boating, fishing, camping, and picnicking. In the Commission's 1915 Annual Report, they stated "It is intended to make Swartswood a public playground. Boat liveries and picnic shelters to be maintained under proper control will make it available to a large number of people". The Forest Park Reservation Commission was consolidated with other agencies into the Department and Board of Conservation and Development on April 8, 1915.

In 1923, the legislature authorized the creation of the State Park Service to administer the state parks and forests. New Jersey began to redirect its efforts from the development of these and other properties for recreational purposes instead of protecting or promoting the commercial potential of forested land. The state legislature established a commission to create a historic park along the Delaware River above Trenton, at the location where George Washington and Continental Army crossed the river on December 25, 1776 before the surprise attack on Hessian troops at the Battle of Trenton and the Battle of Princeton (January 3, 1777). The initial plans were defeated by a public referendum, but there was increased desire to complete these plans to establish a Washington Crossing Memorial Park in time for the 150th anniversary of American independence in 1926. The park was officially dedicated and opened to the public on June 4, 1927. In the wake of World War I, state forester Alfred Gaskill proposed a new public park along Kittatinny Mountain, "as the State’s memorial to its sons who had made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War". A few years later, Colonel Anthony R. Kuser donated his mountaintop estate at High Point (the state's highest elevation) to the state for a public park with an additional gift of $500,000 to erect a granite clad obelisk to honor veterans. Construction of the monument began in 1928 and was completed in 1930. According to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry administers and manages in its state parks, forests, and other areas. These areas, during the state's 2006 fiscal year (from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006) recorded 17,843,541 visitors.

In 2006, the Division of Parks and Forestry began planning and preliminary work two new state parks: Great Falls State Park in Paterson, and Capital State Park in Trenton. The state's only other urban park is Liberty State Park in Jersey City. Great Falls subsequently became Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park. In 2009, the state also purchased in Jefferson Township the former site of the Mount Paul monastery and seminary belonging to Paulist Fathers (from 1924–2009). The tract, which will be developed into a state park, is located in the state's Highlands region on the eastern side of Sparta Mountain and featuring mountain streams that flow into the Russia Brook (a tributary of the Rockaway River). In 2021, Governor Phil Murphy approved the state purchase of part of an abandoned right of way from Norfolk Southern Railway for the purpose of converting it into a new state park tentatively named the Essex Hudson Greenway The park will run from Montclair to Jersey City. Largely facilitated by the Open Space Institute, the park will also be a crucial section of the East Coast Greenway as well as part the 9/11 Memorial Trail, which will connect Shanksville, The Pentagon, and One World Trade Center. It will connect to the proposed Hackensack River Greenway and possibly the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway. The park may also incorporate a "transitway, a project proposed in NJ Transit's "Innovation Challenge", which aims to add a new, creative transportation solutions to The Meadowlands

State parkImageLocationCreatedSizeFeatures and activitiesLinks Abram S. Hewitt State Forest near Hewitt, West Milford Township in Passaic County Accessible only by foot, this park is located on Bearfort Mountain, the eastern terminus of the Wawayanda Plateau, between Greenwood Lake and Upper Greenwood Lake and features a portion of the Appalachian Trail Bass River State Forest Burlington County Bass River is New Jersey's first state forest. Features the man made Lake Absegami, the remains of the Civilian Conservation Corps Camp S 55 (1933–1942), a portion of Pine Barrens pygmy forest in the West Pine Plains Natural Area, and the pine/oak woods and a small Atlantic white cedar bog of the Absegami Natural Area Belleplain State Forest near Woodbine in Cumberland and Cape May counties Features young pine, oak and Atlantic white cedar, and the remains of three CCC camps, and Lake Nummy, formerly the Meisle Cranberry Bog Brendan T. Byrne State Forest New Lisbon, Woodland Township in Ocean County Features the site of Lebanon Glass Works (1851–1867); Whitesbog Village, an active nineteenth and twentieth century cranberry and blueberry producing community where the high bush blueberry was developed. Jenny Jump State Forest Hope in Warren County The park features the 1112 feet (339 m) high, 6 mile (10 km) long Jenny Jump Mountain ridge, large glacial boulders and outcroppings from the Wisconsin glaciation, and because the area enjoys the darkest skies in New Jersey, the park is home to the United Astronomy Clubs of New Jersey's Greenwood Observatory, open for public stargazing. Norvin Green State Forest West Milford Township andBloomingdale Borough in Passaic County Located near Wanaque Reservoir and part of the Wyanokie Wilderness Area, this state forest features Wyanokie High Point and views of the Manhattan skyline is part of the Northeastern coastal forests ecoregion and accessible only by foot. Penn State Forest Jenkin's Neck in Burlington County 1910 Features Oswego Lake and River and a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp, as well as part of New Jersey's pygmy forest. Ramapo Mountain State Forest Passaic and Bergen counties Former estate of Clifford MacEvoy on Ramapo Mountain, includes the Ramapo Lake Natural Area Stokes State Forest Sandyston, Montague, and Frankford townships in Sussex County Created with a donation of land by New Jersey Governor Edward C. Stokes, this state forest on Kittatinny Mountain includes the Tillman Ravine Natural Area, and New Jersey School of Conservation (operated by Montclair State University) Wharton State Forest Large tract through Burlington, Camden, and Atlantic counties New Jersey's largest state forest, features the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion as well as the New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve, and the watershed of the Mullica River, including historic Batsto Village, a former bog iron and glass manufacturing site from 1766 to 1867, and extensive hiking trails. Worthington State Forest Knowlton and Hardwick townships in Warren County Part of the former estate of Charles Campbell Worthington, features Mount Tammany (elevation ), the New Jersey side of the Delaware Water Gap and southern areas of Kittatinny Mountain, including the Dunnfield Creek Natural Area (a Wild Trout stream) and Sunfish Pond, a glacial lake

State parkImageLocationCreatedSizeFeatures and activitiesNotes Atsion Recreation Area Shamong Township in Burlington County Located in Wharton State Forest Bull's Island Recreation Area Delaware and Raritan Canal State ParkDelaware Township in Hunterdon County Round Valley Recreation Area Lebanon and Clinton townships in Hunterdon County 1968 Trails for hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking; camping, fishing, hunting (waterfowl only), picnicking, boating/canoeing (gas motors limited 10 hp), swimming, scuba and skin diving, cross country skiing, ice fishing, sledding Spruce Run Recreation Area Union and Clinton townships in Hunterdon County 1974 Warren Grove Recreation Area Warren Grove in Ocean and Burlington counties 1972 Administered by the Bass River State Forest, this site was acquired from the National Park Service in 1972. This site is part of what is known as the "Pygmy Forest", featuring the groves of Pitch Pine that is part of the Dwarf Pine Plains Habitat in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Features the endangered broom crowberry (Corema conradii) and other rare plant species.