Pinelands Preservation Alliance and Pinelands Adventures will offer a series of immersive, guided trips on the Batsto and Mullica Rivers in Wharton State Forest that will provide participants with a unique and an up-close experience with Pine Barrens ecology during Pinelands Month in October.
Two Special Trips are Being Offered. The Batsto River Guided Trip in which participants will canoe or kayak on the Batsto River from Shamong to Batsto Village and along the way explore white cedar swamps and forests along the river’s edge and learn about Pine Barrens flora and fauna and cultural and political history. Kayaks and canoes are provided or participants may choose to bring their own kayaks or canoes. Trip Dates will be Oct. 4, 10, 18 and 31 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. This trip will cost $50 to $60 per person.
The other trip will be the Pine Barrens Discovery Tour in which participants will trek and paddle along the edges of the Mullica River and discover its secrets. This programincludes a shore walk to learn about native plants of the Pine Barrens in uplands and Atlantic Cedar Swamphabitats. Participants will also conduct a water quality survey and try dip and seine netting. The program runsabout three hours and canoes are provided.Trip Dates will be Oct. 11 and 24. Trips are offered at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. for $15 per child and $35 per adult.
All trips begin at Pinelands Adventures headquarters and are led by guide and naturalist John Volpa, PinelandsAdventures’ Education Director. Volpa has a long history of Pine Barrens exploration as a former environmentalscience teacher with Shamong Township Public Schools and an instructor with Pinelands Preservation
Alliance’s summer Teacher’s Institute. An Evesham Township resident, Volpa has also been the catalyst behind the creation of the Black Run Preserve in Evesham, where he also co-chair’s the township’s “green team.”
For information, visit www.PinelandsAdventures.org or call 609–268–0189.
Based in Shamong in the Wharton State Forest, Pinelands Adventures is an initiative of Pinelands Preservation Alliance, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the ongoing protection of the New Jersey Pinelands.
Pinelands Adventures is located at 1005 Atsion Road in Shamong.
