Asbury Park Press, Jul. 27, 2006
NEW COUNTY PARK TO OFFER SCENIC VIEW OF PINE BARRENS
Jake's Branch in Beachwood
By Kirk Moore, Toms River Bureau
TOMS RIVER -- Short of an airplane ride, the only way to take in a
panorama of the Pine Barrens has always been to trek to remote
hilltops and fire watch towers deep in the forest.
But within two years, the best vantage point of all may be a few
minutes' drive from downtown Toms River. A nature center with an
observation deck 117 feet above sea level will be the centerpiece of
the new Jake's Branch County Park in western Beachwood, a first of its
kind facility for the county parks system.
"It will be a combination park," with multiple missions, said
Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr., who introduced final plans for the
park at an Ocean County Board of Freeholders meeting Wednesday.
Of 400 county-owned acres, 40 acres will be used to build fields for
active competitive sports, picnic areas, small scenic lakes and the
6,500-square-foot nature center. Like the county's other visitor
centers at Cattus Island in Dover Township and Wells Mills near
Waretown, Jake's Branch will employ a naturalist on staff and offer
environmental education to visitors, said Michael Mangum, director of
the county Department of Parks and Recreation.
The remaining 360 acres will remain as forest, with hiking and nature
trails winding through the property named for a southwestern branch of
the Toms River. Bartlett, who has long been the political advocate for
the county parks system, said it's been a 16-year process for planning
what to do with the property -- once generically known as the
Beachwood West tract -- since the county acquired it in 1990.
The park's frontage on Double Trouble Road will be used for two soccer
fields and a combination soccer-football field, with two softball and
combination softball-baseball diamonds nearby, Bartlett said. Use of
the fields will be limited to competitive team play, so the turf is
not worn out by practicing players, he said.
As designed by architects D.W. Smith Associates, a winding drive will
lead visitors into "parking tucked in among the trees," not big
parking lots, Bartlett said, with about 100 spaces. Tennis and
basketball courts will be located near the front of the property and
the road, while the drive continues on taking visitors to a vista with
a grassy lawn and twin man-made lakes, he said.
Picnic areas and a playground will be set under trees, and visitors
can walk to the nature center, to be built on a summit 77 feet above
sea level.
"It's an impressive little hill out there" that stands almost 40 feet
above surrounding terrain, Mangum said. The observation deck will be
40 feet above ground level, he said.
Such a convenient high point has been suggested before. When former
U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley sought funding for a Pinelands visitor center
years ago, he talked about including a tall observation deck so
newcomers could take in the view of green forest stretching to the
horizon.
At Jake's Branch, they will see all that: from the airship hangars
miles away at Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Center over to Barnegat
Light.
An elevator will take visitors to the platform from the visitor center
main gallery. There will be a working grand fireplace there for use in
winter, and an indoor bird-watching area with feeders and water
features set outside to attract birds, Bartlett said. Park staffers
even have plans to wire an outdoor microphone so visitors can listen
to bird songs, he said.
The total project cost is $5.4 million and the county is ready to go
to bid, now that all its planning and building permits are in hand,
Bartlett said. The biggest hurdle of winning state Pinelands
Commission approvals was finally passed last January, Mangum said. It
may take two years before all the athletic fields are ready, but the
facility will be able to open in stages once construction has been
under way for 18 months, he said.
"It's a magnificent project," Bartlett said. "I can't wait to get it
in the ground."
Kirk Moore: (732) 557-5728
Copyright 2006 Asbury Park Press.
NEW COUNTY PARK TO OFFER SCENIC VIEW OF PINE BARRENS
Jake's Branch in Beachwood
By Kirk Moore, Toms River Bureau
TOMS RIVER -- Short of an airplane ride, the only way to take in a
panorama of the Pine Barrens has always been to trek to remote
hilltops and fire watch towers deep in the forest.
But within two years, the best vantage point of all may be a few
minutes' drive from downtown Toms River. A nature center with an
observation deck 117 feet above sea level will be the centerpiece of
the new Jake's Branch County Park in western Beachwood, a first of its
kind facility for the county parks system.
"It will be a combination park," with multiple missions, said
Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr., who introduced final plans for the
park at an Ocean County Board of Freeholders meeting Wednesday.
Of 400 county-owned acres, 40 acres will be used to build fields for
active competitive sports, picnic areas, small scenic lakes and the
6,500-square-foot nature center. Like the county's other visitor
centers at Cattus Island in Dover Township and Wells Mills near
Waretown, Jake's Branch will employ a naturalist on staff and offer
environmental education to visitors, said Michael Mangum, director of
the county Department of Parks and Recreation.
The remaining 360 acres will remain as forest, with hiking and nature
trails winding through the property named for a southwestern branch of
the Toms River. Bartlett, who has long been the political advocate for
the county parks system, said it's been a 16-year process for planning
what to do with the property -- once generically known as the
Beachwood West tract -- since the county acquired it in 1990.
The park's frontage on Double Trouble Road will be used for two soccer
fields and a combination soccer-football field, with two softball and
combination softball-baseball diamonds nearby, Bartlett said. Use of
the fields will be limited to competitive team play, so the turf is
not worn out by practicing players, he said.
As designed by architects D.W. Smith Associates, a winding drive will
lead visitors into "parking tucked in among the trees," not big
parking lots, Bartlett said, with about 100 spaces. Tennis and
basketball courts will be located near the front of the property and
the road, while the drive continues on taking visitors to a vista with
a grassy lawn and twin man-made lakes, he said.
Picnic areas and a playground will be set under trees, and visitors
can walk to the nature center, to be built on a summit 77 feet above
sea level.
"It's an impressive little hill out there" that stands almost 40 feet
above surrounding terrain, Mangum said. The observation deck will be
40 feet above ground level, he said.
Such a convenient high point has been suggested before. When former
U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley sought funding for a Pinelands visitor center
years ago, he talked about including a tall observation deck so
newcomers could take in the view of green forest stretching to the
horizon.
At Jake's Branch, they will see all that: from the airship hangars
miles away at Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Center over to Barnegat
Light.
An elevator will take visitors to the platform from the visitor center
main gallery. There will be a working grand fireplace there for use in
winter, and an indoor bird-watching area with feeders and water
features set outside to attract birds, Bartlett said. Park staffers
even have plans to wire an outdoor microphone so visitors can listen
to bird songs, he said.
The total project cost is $5.4 million and the county is ready to go
to bid, now that all its planning and building permits are in hand,
Bartlett said. The biggest hurdle of winning state Pinelands
Commission approvals was finally passed last January, Mangum said. It
may take two years before all the athletic fields are ready, but the
facility will be able to open in stages once construction has been
under way for 18 months, he said.
"It's a magnificent project," Bartlett said. "I can't wait to get it
in the ground."
Kirk Moore: (732) 557-5728
Copyright 2006 Asbury Park Press.
