The Pine Barrens: Fall foliage colors come alive in the Pinelands
by Joseph Sapia
You might have guessed that the Pine Barrens have a lot of pines. And the region is barren in terms of conventional farming, hence its name. But Pine Barrens is somewhat of a misnomer, hardly a land of barely nothing else but pines and hardly barren.
A reminder is October, when the changing colors of deciduous vegetation peaks. No need to travel beyond the Pine Barrens to see these splashes of color. They are here in this "undiscovered" viewing spot.
At the woods shrub layer, blueberry and huckleberry turn a flame red. In the canopy are the oaks and swamp hardwoods, their greens changing to reds, yellows, rusts, and oranges, along with the dried browns of oaks refusing to drop their leaves. Adding to the splash is the contrast with evergreens of pitch pine, Atlantic white cedar, and the laurels: mountain and sheep.
Another color contrast is the “tea water,” the dark, clear water such as that in Helmetta Pond and Shekiro’s Pond. Plus, there is the reflection of the leaves’ colors in the water. Also, with wet areas, the vegetation growing there should be taken into consideration.
"Wetlands give you one of the nicest views," said Bobby Zampella, then the biologist for the New Jersey Pinelands Commission. "You have red maple, black gum (changing colors)."
Add a vivid blue sky and you have Mother Nature at an artist’s easel.
Commenting years ago on the changing colors in the Pine Barrens, John W. Sinton, co-author of "Water, Earth, and Fire: Land-use and Environmental Planning in the New Jersey Pine Barrens", said, "It’s a great and warm glow for a long time. It’s not flashy, but it does have a glow."
"For example, Pine Barrens colors last longer than New England’s because there are more oak trees, which retain changing colors, and because of warmer temperatures," Sinton said. "New England colors are brighter because of the more drastic change between daytime and nighttime temperatures and because of the different species of trees. Here (in the Pine Barrens), you kind of bask in the warm glow. It has a great deal to do with enjoyment, rather than excitement."
Or, as Sinton said, "New England’s fall foliage is like making love, the Pine Barrens’ is like, afterward, savoring the moment!"
I dislike the term fall foliage to describe the change of colors, because the change actually starts in the wetlands around Helmetta in mid to late July. But, because our concern here is the colors peak, fall foliage is somewhat acceptable.
Bert Nixdorf, a Pine Barrens mentor, would use October 20 as a likely peak in the uplands. So I look to the wetlands peaking about a week or two earlier, October 6 to October 13. Of course, these dates meeting expectations depend on environmental conditions, such as temperatures and rainfall, which could mean an earlier, later, or no discernible peak.
Another date-altering event could be climate change. Margie and “Doc” Wilson used to look to the Election Day holiday to rake the leaves in their Helmetta yard. Now, it seems more sensible to look to Thanksgiving.
Rather than looking to a specific date for the big bang, I simply keep an eye on the woods from day to day in passing, checking such places as Helmetta Pond at the parking lot area and at Cedar Swamp; looking across the swamp hardwoods of Cranberry Bog to the upland hardwoods of Snuffy Hollow; and looking into the wetlands on the west side of Manalapan Brook and continuing into the piney uplands of the Old Forge Road Pine Barrens to the brook’s east. Another favorite place for colors, but one that requires a walk, is Shekiro’s Pond.
After the color peak, the woods will be generally bare, except for the evergreens. Noticeable will be the amount of fallen leaves on the ground, as I observed a few years ago, walking through Bennett’s Orchard.
"Lying on the ground in my path, brown and dried, I plowed through them, ankle- or so-deep, sounding as though I was thrashing through discarded paper bags," according to my November 8, 1998 field notes.
"At Shekiro’s Pond and the surrounding wetlands, the swamp hardwoods were bare, having already discarded their leaves. Except for this band of smaller trees…from the pond through the wetlands behind Squirrely Maslanka’s old place. They still retained leaves of green/yellow. I did not know the species," my notes continued.
"Cranberry Bog was the same as Shekiro’s Pond: the Land of Bare Trees. Looking across one of the Cranberry Bog dike roads, then looking (in the opposite direction) at the wetlands behind Shekiro’s Pond, the trees there were bare also. Yes, the swamp hardwoods had, generally, shed their leaves….’’
Easily accessible viewing spots for the changing colors:
- Helmetta Pond at the parking lot on Maple Street. Multi-color swamp hardwoods with some green pine, reflected in the tea water, lots of sky.
- Bordentown Turnpike at the Pipeline, just south of Old Road, Monroe. Look west, swamp hardwoods in the foreground at Cranberry Bog, upland hardwoods in the background at Snuffy Hollow, both colorful.
- Helmetta Road at the Pipeline and Power Lines, between Old Road and Cherry Blossom Drive, Monroe. Easy, drive-by view to the east, swamp hardwoods in the foreground, upland pines in the background. Negative is the power lines in the view.
- Walk onto the Pipeline high ground between Helmetta Road and Bordentown Turnpike and see the two previously mentioned sites from one spot.
- Helmetta Road at Pro-1 Collision & Towing, between Cherry Blossom Drive and Sherman Street, Monroe. The road passes through the wetlands (evident by the bull frog and northern water snake road-kill on a recent day), swamp hardwoods to the west with a few pines.
- Spotswood Lake (formally DeVoe Lake), DeVoe Avenue, Spotswood. Swamp hardwoods reflected in lake, lots of sky.
Previous stories: The Pine Barrens: Exploring a Pinelands outlier in Middlesex County
Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 10/6/2011 10:53 AM 
Categories: The Pine Barrens
Tags: pine barrens helmetta pond fall foliage fall season fall
Categories: The Pine Barrens
Tags: pine barrens helmetta pond fall foliage fall season fall
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