From pine plains to cedar swamps and tea-colored rivers flowing to the coastal estuaries, the Pine Barrens offers a mosaic of habitats home to unique and rare plants and animals. We will explore just a small portion of this more than one-million-acre oasis to learn about the unique ecosystems and rich history of the Pine Barrens. Our first stop to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance will provide an overview of one of America’s foremost efforts to control growth so that people and the rest of nature can live compatibly, preserving vast stretches of forest, rare species of plants and wildlife, and vulnerable freshwater aquifers. The Pinelands Preservation Alliance facilities will also provide a lovely venue for lunch.

From there, we will travel to Whitesbog Village to learn about its evolution from pinelands to iron production and then to cranberry production that thrived in the disturbed strip-mined conditions. It was at White’s Bog where Frederick Vernon Coville, botanist and founder of the U.S. National Arboretum, and enterprising Elizabeth White collaborated to cultivate blueberries, making them a valuable crop. Suningive, Elizabeth White’s historic home and garden with its unique plant collection and pond, will also be on the tour. There is a good chance we will have an opportunity to purchase local blueberries to bring home. For more information, visit pinelandsalliance.org/ecology and whitesbog.org.

**Online registration for this trip has ended. Please call 410.634.2847, ext. 0 to inquire about available seats or to be added to a waiting list.**