PINELANDS New Jersey’s PINELANDS Wildlife Action Plan

Stronghold for Globally Rare Wildlife Enter a region of vast pitch pine forests and Atlantic white cedar swamps that shelter globally rare plants and animals such as the Pine Barrens tree frog. The New Jersey’s reliance of rare wildlife on specialized habitats means Frosted elfin they live close to a tipping point; every animal in the Four-toed salamander Wildlife Action Plan State threatened Conservation concern The southern part of the population matters. Their survival depends on the The smallest of New Jersey’s 16 Creating a Network Pinelands shelters one of the connected forests of the Pinelands that are important salamander species, the four- world’s largest colonies of toed salamander inhabits wooded for Conservation frosted elfin butterflies. Look for for nesting songbirds and serve as migratory bird swamps and bogs throughout the this small butterfly on utility line stopovers. Today’s top challenges are to mimic the Pinelands. Females usually lay rights-of-way and at airports their eggs in nests of sphagnum To protect our wildlife of greatest conservation where the caterpillars depend historic role of fire in shaping this ecosystem, to moss that are overhanging need, the New Jersey Department of on wild indigo host plants for maintain intact forests and unique habitat types, and streams. The adults are just Environmental Protection’s Division of Fish their survival. 2 inches to 3 ½ inches long. to protect wildlife from the hazards of roads. and Wildlife led many partners to develop and Conserving implement the state’s Wildlife Action Plan. The and Restoring Habitat plan offers a blueprint to protect key habitats, limit growth to avoid urban sprawl and address Connecting climate change. To learn more, please visit: www.njfishandwildlife.com/ensp/waphome.htm Lands And Waters Cooperating Allen Barlow Across Ownerships Eastern kingsnake Seepage dancer State special concern Conservation concern These secretive snakes hide This well-named aerial dancer Cover photo: Pine Barrens tree frog, John F. Bunnell under logs in forests and graces wetlands where the Funded by State Wildlife Grants. near stream banks where they clear, cold groundwater seeps For more information on New Jersey’s Wildlife Action Plan can find their favorite prey, up on gently sloping lands, contact ENSP at: 609-292-9400 www.njfishandwildlife.com other snakes. sometimes called seepage bogs. Goals and Actions for the Pinelands

Action: Manage some forests Action: Keep off-road vehicles Pinelands: Protected for fire-dominated habitats Did you know? out of sensitive habitats Restoring fire-shaped habitats will require working Cedar swamps form dense stands that By pinpointing fragile habitats, biologists can help Yet Fragile with fire specialists to conduct ecological burns. Land stay cooler than the forests around them law enforcement officers concentrate their efforts to managers may also need to selectively remove excess during summer and warmer in the winter. prevent off-road vehicles from illegal entry. Vulnerable trees that could fuel too hot a fire. They also filter and purify water, store places include Did you know? floodwaters and are home to several bald eagle nests The 1.1 million-acre Pinelands National Goal: Reduce the numbers of threatened and endangered species. and buffers, pine Reserve covers one fifth of New rare wildlife killed on roads snake nesting areas, Jersey. From its undeveloped core, As traffic increases on county roads, the hazards wetlands with fragile the nation’s first such reserve, for wildlife worsen. Timber rattlesnakes, pine snakes Action: Use soils, and savannahs designated in 1979, expands outward to and black rat snakes react to oncoming cars by forestry that shelter ground- farms and towns. Special land-use laws staying still, rather than slithering away. Hawks, techniques nesting birds. conserve its internationally significant songbirds, butterflies, turtles, frogs and snails also to bring back Northern pine snake plants and wildlife. are struck on roads. Goal: cedar forests State threatened Safeguard In New Jersey, the pine snake lives Action: Make Returning Atlantic © Blaine J. Rothauser rare only in the sandy habitat of the Goal: Restore a roads safer white cedars to their Pinelands, where it spends much of Barred owl reptiles and fire-shaped landscape for wildlife former grandeur and its time in burrows. Its dependence historic locations will State threatened amphibians on sandy places makes the snake Natural fires historically shaped the Pinelands into a Make roads more The hoot of a barred owl, “Who vulnerable to off-road vehicles as take a two-prong effort from illegal mosaic of old and young trees, shrubs and savannahs. permeable for cooks for you? Who cooks for well as illegal collectors. – improving existing you all?” echoes through the collecting By snuffing out fires for more than a century, people wildlife by identifying stands and adding new night air of the Pinelands’ forested Collecting wildlife is strictly prohibited, but each year have inadvertently allowed forest fuels to build up and crossing “hotspots” swamps. Here large, old trees for Timber rattlesnake forests. Techniques for people come from far and wide to walk through reduced the fire-shaped habitats that are important to and then working with State endangered nesting and room for the owl to success include fencing fly and hunt provide ideal habitat. the pinelands searching for rarities to keep or sell; rare wildlife, such as pine snakes that nest and den in transportation agencies Timber rattlesnakes are cedar swamps to keep especially rattlesnakes, pine snakes, corn snakes, open, sandy areas. to retrofit problem road especially vulnerable to the hazards of crossing roads. These out deer, cutting out the competing trees such as red Pine Barrens tree frogs and spotted turtles. segments with wildlife secretive and slow-moving maple and planting seedling cedars as needed. underpasses and snakes move as far as four Action: Educate and find solutions other wildlife-friendly miles from their dens, returning each year to the same site. Goal: Prevent off-road vehicle to illegal collecting enhancements. disturbance to wildlife Volunteers can be enlisted to keep an eye on Goal: Restore Atlantic White Cedar Off-road vehicles can greatly impact wildlife. The vulnerable areas and can assist with educating vehicles frighten wildlife from their shelters and nests Water-loving Atlantic white cedars are home to red- people about the harm to wildlife populations caused and can also destroy sensitive soils and plants. While shouldered hawks and cavity-nesting birds such as by illegal collecting. Meeting this challenge will it’s illegal for off-road vehicles to enter state lands, it’s Arogos skipper - State endangered barred owls. The forests have dwindled from historic require creative partnerships with hobbyists, reptile In the Pinelands, the caterpillar of the Arogos skipper feeds only on also a challenge to enforce such laws. and amphibian enthusiasts and law enforcement. Pine Barrens reed grass, a globally rare plant that needs fire to be logging practices, development, dams, wildfires, successful. Only a few remnant Pinelands savannahs hosting this competition from other trees and white-tailed deer plant and butterfly remain. browsing of saplings.