Pinelands regulations create some friction with neighbors
Submitted by Mindy Block on Sun, 11/09/2008 - 9:33pm.
I found this to be a great introduction to the value of regional planning, and an overview to how the Pinelands were created and a review of the conservation challenges the Pinelands Comission faces today. It is written by Michelle J. Lee (11/09/08)
The Pine Barrens - before they were the Pinelands - were in danger. Thirty years ago, the wooded region faced two major threats: the construction of hundreds of new homes, after 1976 legislation cleared the way for casinos in Atlantic City, and an energy crisis that led oil companies to propose drilling off New Jersey's coast.
If drilling had occurred, former Gov. Jim Florio said, it would have created pipelines through forests and on top of one of the East Coast's largest aquifers. As a congressman, Florio sponsored legislation to protect the area, which is about the size of Delaware.
On Nov. 10, 1978, Congress declared the 1.1 million-acre ecosystem - a diverse tapestry with pine and oak forests, cedar bogs and an extensive plain of pygmy pine trees - a national reserve, making it off limits to most development.
The following year, New Jersey created . . .