The Vegetation of Voorhees State Park, New Jersey

Abstract

Voorhees State Park, consisting of 534 acres of woodand, old fields, conifer plantations, and developed recreation areas, is located in Hunterdon County along the west side of the High Bridge-Long Valley road, approximately one mile north of the town of High Bridge (fig. 1). Four-fifths of the present park property was the gift of Foster M. Voorhees, a former governor of the state. This was in two sections, Hoppock Grove on the north, and Hill Acres on the south, making a total of 429 acres. The middle tract, consisting of an additional 105 acres bisected by the central stream, was subsequently acquired and served to unite the properties. The land having been donated to the state for conservational and public recreational purposes, a program with these objectives in view was initiated in 1929. Intensive development began in 1932 when the state, with the co-operation of the federal government, undertook the establishment of varied recreational facilities within the park. Campfire and picnic sites, trails and shelters were constructed, chiefly in the northern or Hoppock Grove section, and to a less extent in the southern or Hill Acres section. The conifer plantations were also established at this time, on abandoned fields and in old