NJ Open Space Map

Boyd

Administrator
Staff member
Site Administrator
Jul 31, 2004
9,826
3,005
Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,951
8,694
It is a very nice map but there are some flaws.


Guy
 

Spung-Man

Piney
Jan 5, 2009
1,000
729
65
Richland, NJ
www.researchgate.net
Why Were These Woodcuts Made?

Thanks Bob,

Its encouraging to see conservation efforts celebrated in a period of environmental skepticism, a time when “economic growth” often trumps Pinelands preservation efforts. The appearance of the Great Egg Harbor River WMA is of personal significance (Figure below).
GEHRWMA.jpg
This location was one of the first tests of the Pinelands Commission’s power during the early 80s. A trash incinerator was slated to be built by Atlantic County on the site. Buena Vista residents banded together as “Pinelands People Against the Dump.” Fortunately we succeeded in saving this environmentally sensitive parcel from destruction. Does anyone wish to hazard a guess as to the intended use for the bulldozed patches marked in the link below?

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.5271163617853&lng=-74.853994846344&z=16&type=topo&gpx=


Mark
 

Spung-Man

Piney
Jan 5, 2009
1,000
729
65
Richland, NJ
www.researchgate.net
Anyone else - besides Jerseyman

I am sure at one time a major development was planned there.
Guy

Yes, there have been a number of development schemes planned here starting with Charles K. Landis in 1854 (Weymouth Farm and Agricultural Company), which was followed by the Merton Tract of 1880. Good guess. But that isn't why the rectilinear tessellations were bulldozed during the 1960s. Oddly, their construct served an even more foul purpose.

Mark
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,658
4,836
Pines; Bamber area
My intuition says whoever did it is both planning and preventing. Planning to do something with the land, and preventing the law from stopping them.
 

Spung-Man

Piney
Jan 5, 2009
1,000
729
65
Richland, NJ
www.researchgate.net
Another Bygone Trade of the Pinelands

Thanksgiving turkey?

Gabe,

Good show! Dentist? In this case the filling was not amalgam but stuffing. These were turkey ranges. Our poultry operation, Richland Grain Company, raised free-range turkey. Vegetable and fruit farming was marginal here due to poor soil conditions, a bit ironic considering the village’s namesake. However, the sandy gravelly terrain was perfect for poultry production. Wide-open free-draining ground meant diseases like Blackleg, Turkey Rhinotracheitis, and Newcastle Disease could be kept at bay.

We experimented with extending field-based free range into cheaper open woods on land considered too marginal for conventional farming. These properties were so undervalued that I remember locals using acres as card-game chips. We bulldozed swaths through the woods, then fenced them in. Feeding stations were established, being replenished with dedicated bulk trucks. Irrigation wells provided automated watering. Mast like acorns supplemented turkey diet. When poults grew to a desired market weight, we’d have loading crews do roundup drives. Turkeys were crated, loaded on tractor-trailers, and shipped to processing plants.

Better vaccination techniques were just being perfected, allowing the trade to go into intensive confinement. Once again the South Jersey industry went boom-bust. We were put out of business in 1973 by rising grain prices, high energy costs, and competition from factory farms on the Delmarva. Those were lean times near the end.
 
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