New Jersey - A State of Contradictions

New Jersey - A State of Contradictions

I grew up in north Jersey, on the edge of what's now called the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The name explains it all...it's almost 8,000 acres of forests and swamps just 25 miles from New York City. Spring in the Great Swamp is a magical time, green and lush.

I now live at the Jersey Shore between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pinelands National Reserve. Spring in the Pinelands is very different than the lush green of the swamp...after all they do call it the Pine Barrens. Its one million acres are beautiful too, in a sparse scrub piney way!

But there's growth where you'd least expect it...This area burned a few years ago!