Pine Barrens

Ideally, lakes and streams have a pH between 6 and 8. However, according to the National Surface Water Survey (NSWS) conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency between 1984 and 1986, the most acidic lake in the country, Little Echo Pond in Franklin, New York, had a pH of 4.2. According to the same survey, the Pine Barrens region of New Jersey also has a very high percentage of acidic rivers. More than 90% of the streams in that area are considered acidic. This is very bad news for the fish that live in these lakes and streams. 

Turner, R.S., A.H. Johnson, and D. Wang. 1985. Biogeochemistry of lead in McDonalds Branch watershed, New Jersey Pine Barrens. Jour. Environ. Qual. 14 305-314. 

Hatchling pine snzkes,Pituophismdanoleucus, ofthe Pine Barrens in New Jersey prefer mouse odor in a Y-maze more if they have been incubated at a higher temperature (33 °C versus 28 °C). Furthermore, experience plays a role in this species, too. Snakes that had eaten a mouse detect and follow a mouse odor trail, while naive snakes show no such response (Burger, 1991). 

Streams flowing over soil with low buffering capacity are equally as susceptible to damage from acid rain as lakes are. Approximately 580 of the streams m the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain are acidic primarily due to acidic deposition. The New Jersey Pine Barrens area endures the highest rate of acidic streams in the nation with over 90 percent of the streams acidic. Over 1,350 of the streams in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands (mid-Appalachia) are acidic, primarily due to acidic deposition. Many streams in that area have already experienced trout losses due to the rising acidity. 

The Pinelands of New Jersey, and the forests in the northeastern and southeastern U.S. and in Central Europe have shown a problem referred to as a decline. In the Pine Barrens, Johnson and co-workers (43) found that two-thirds of the shortleaf, loblolly and pitch pine trees sampled showed either a noticeably abnormal or dramatic decrease in ring increment size. This decreased growth... 

Damp mostly sandy soil, savannas, open woods, and wet pine barrens. New York to Tennessee and Florida and west to Texas. 

Decline in the growth of evergreens during the past 20-30 years has also been documented in the Adirondacks, in the New Jersey Pine Barrens,and in Maine, based on an analysis of tree rings. In the Adirondacks, balsam fir as well as red spruce have been affected. In the Pine Barrens, the decline and death of loblolly, shortleaf and pitch pine correlates with the increasing acidity of streamwater in the area. ... 

Also Budd, W. W., Johnson, A. H., Huss, J. B., Turner, R. S. 1981. Aluminum in precipitation, streams and shallow groundwater in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Water Resources Research. 17 1179-83. 

On the upper one-third of the study area, which is a more windswept and severe site, there is already some indication that white fir does not grow well there. It is known that white fir is more subject to wind-throw than ponderosa pine (14). Perhaps sugar pine and incense cedar will make up a greater proportion of the future stand however, if natural regeneration is relied upon, the present supply of sugar pine seed trees is limited to only three per acre. Both species may have difficulty becoming established on the more barren, dry sites. 

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