By Alison Mitchell
Executive director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation
Before many of New Jersey’s forests started being cleared and drained for agriculture some 400 years ago – drastically changing the landscape of this state we’re in – Atlantic white cedar swamps were abundant. In fact, this distinct habitat once occupied half a million acres along the East Coast, and in New Jersey, nearly a quarter of a million acres!
Today, a tiny fraction remains: less than 125,000 acres along the eastern seaboard, and less than 25,000 acres here in New Jersey. But our state is still one of the last remaining strongholds of this vital species and its swampy ecosystem, and we need to do everything we can to protect them.
Humans have been harvesting Atlantic white cedar trees since the 17th century – the wood is highly sought after for its durability, quality, and lightweight. More recently, voracious consumption of seedlings by the exploding New Jersey deer population has severely impacted the regeneration of cedar forests, and a drastic increase in beavers has led to flooding of the swamps. Ongoing sea-level rise, modifications made for agricultural water storage, and improper forestry practices have also had devastating effects.
“The Meadowlands of northeastern New Jersey were once filled with Atlantic white cedar swamps,” said Mark Gallagher, vice president of Princeton Hydro, a watershed management and ecological restoration firm. “It’s all gone now.”
The ecological benefits of white cedar are many. These forests are highly effective at storing carbon in the wood of the trees and in the organic peat soil they generate. And since both the trees and peat are long-lived, the carbon is stored for a long time – a very important factor in mitigating the effects of climate change.
The plant communities also filter and purify water, stabilize stream banks, store stormwater runoff, and ameliorate the effects of heat and drought. They provide critical habitat for rare species like the caterpillar of the rare Hessel’s hairstreak (butterfly) which feeds on Atlantic white cedar, as well as the iconic curly-grass fern.
Fortunately, efforts have been underway for decades to save this special resource, with government agencies like the New Jersey Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), private landowners, and nonprofit groups working together to restore these swampy forest habitats.
The New Jersey Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership, USDA, and nonprofit organizations, including New Jersey Conservation Foundation, teamed up in the mid-2000s to restore an abandoned cranberry bog at the Franklin Parker Preserve in the Pine Barrens, significantly bolstering the State’s overall white cedar habitat. Volunteers, staff, and community members planted more than 30,000 seedlings over four years as part of the largest freshwater restoration project in the northeastern United States at the time.
In 2021, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced ambitious plans to restore 10,000 acres of Atlantic white cedar forest over the following decade, mostly on state-owned lands in the Pine Barrens. DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette lauded it as “the largest forest restoration project ever undertaken in New Jersey and the largest ever in the nation restoring Atlantic white cedars.”
The importance and urgency of these efforts cannot be overstated. You can help build public support for protection measures by learning, and then educating others, about the important role of Atlantic white cedar in storing carbon, flood control, and in providing critical habitat for rare native species that make New Jersey unique.
For more information, visit https://www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/forest/atlanticwhitecedar/.
Get outside and visit the preserved cedar swamps in the Pine Barrens. You can find mature swamps along the Sam Lambert (formerly red) trail of the Franklin Parker Preserve or recently planted cedars on the yellow trail: https://www.njconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/FranklinParkerTrailMap-color.jpg.
Once you’ve experienced these special forests, you’ll want to protect them. To learn more, visit the New Jersey Conservation Foundation at www.njconservation.org or reach out at info@njconservation.org.
