Bass River State Forest
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Bass River State Forest is a 23,563-acre (94 km²) state park in the Pine Barrens in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. It was acquired by the state in 1905 for public recreation, water conservation, and wildlife and timber management; it was the first of New Jersey's state forests. Sixty-seven-acre (27 ha) Lake Absegami, created in the 1930s, provides swimming, boating and canoeing. A trail through the Absegami Natural Area provides access to a pine/oak woods and a small Atlantic white cedar bog. The park is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.
The 128-acre (51 ha) Absegami Natural Area contains a nature trail traversing a wetland forest, containing Atlantic white cedars, red maple and magnolia.
The 3,830-acre (15 km²) West Pine Plains Natural Area is a globally rare stunted forest ecosystem, known locally as the Pygmy Forest. It preserves a portion of the pine plains, and supports an extensive forest of pine and oak trees that reach a canopy height of as little as four feet at maturity. New Jersey contains the largest area of this forest type in the world. The forest supports the endangered broom crowberry and twelve rare species of moth.
Fishing, hunting, horseback riding, swimming and boating (electric motors only) are available. There is a large, developed campground, primitive group campsite, shelters and cabins. The fifty-mile (80 km) Batona Trail passes through Bass River State Forest as well as nearby Wharton State Forest and Brendan T. Byrne State Forest.
