History of the Pinelands Field Station

In 1932, a 240 ha. "experimental forest" was designated within the Brendan Byrne State Forest (formerly Lebanon State Forest) on the site of the present field station. The field station main building, part of the garage and a fire tower were built by the U.S. Forest Service at about that time. The fire tower was removed and various additions and outbuilding and a greenhouse have been added at intervals since. The cabin was moved to this site from Medford Lakes in 1936/1937 as part of a W.P.A. project. At the time of initial construction, the station was known as the Allegheny Forest Experiment Station (Lebanon Forest Branch Station) but is now part of the U.S. Forest Service's Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. Silas Little, research forester of the US Forest Service was the first station director. He was instrumental in setting up the earliest research in the NJ pine barrens using prescribed fire to reduce wildfire hazard and to promote tree growth. In 1985, the Division of Pinelands Research of Rutgers University obtained a ten year lease on the facility from the US Forest Service and the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, moving from their offices in the Pinelands Commission building. Dr. Ralph Good was director until his death in 1991.Dr. Mark Morgan served as acting director until the arrival of Dr. John Dighton in 1994. In 1995 the lease was renegotiated allowing for the indefinite use of the facility by the Rutgers Division of Pinelands Research. Since first taking possession of the facility the DPR has continued to make physical improvements consistent with its function as a live-in biological research station. A new analytical laboratory was installed at the site through NSF Field Station improvement grant (1987); a microscopy laboratory (1995) and a PCR laboratory (2001) were set-up in an older building on the site. Recently a new dormitory with a fire suppression system was installed, also through an NSF Field Station improvement grant (2005). In 2005 the US Forest Service renovated the cabin as an office and base station for a pine barrens forest carbon flux tower and fire modeling network