Mashipacong Bogs Preserve

Mashpicong Bogs Preserve
© Dwight Hiscano

Town: Montague Township

County: Sussex

Acres Protected: 1,000

Established: 1991

Managed by: The Nature Conservancy

Why is this land special?
Only miles from the higest point in New Jersey, Mashipacong Bogs Preseve is situated on the western side of the Kittatinny Mountain Range and borders High Point and Stokes state parks. The habitat is hilly and rocky, with a mixed-oak forest. On the preserve's northern edge lie two glacial bogs, known as Lost Lake Bogs, which are surrounded by a large black spruce-tamarack swamp-the highest quality swamp of its kind in the state. On the site's southeastern side is Mashipacong Pond. The preserve includes the best northern boreal bog ecosystem in New Jersey. Rare plant species, such as northern yellow-eyed grass (Xyris montana), bog rosemary (Andromeda glaucophylla), creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula), pale laurel (Kalmia polifolia), dwarf misteltoe (Arceuthobium pusillum) and beaked sedge (Carex rostrata) flourish at this site. Black bears, beavers, hawks, waterfowl and songbirds also make their homes here.

In 1775, the property was first laid out by the East Jersey Proprietors as a "Great Lot" measuring one square mile. (Today, after several reconfigurations, the land retains its original size.) During the 1800s, busy Deckertown Turnpike, an important stagecoach thoroughfare, traversed the tract. In 1848, one of the swamps at the site was impounded to form the 46-acre Mashipacong Pond used to provide power to run two mills owned by John Rutherford. Some 50 years later, the owners subdivided it into lots for planned, but never built, lake cottages. BY 1924 state parkland surrounded the site. In 1938, the late philanthropist Doris Duke purchased the land and leased the property to Life Fresh Air Camps, which has since become Trail Blazers Camp, a multicultural your services agency. In 1991, shortly before her death, Miss Duke donated the land to the Conservancy, which, in accordance with her wishes, continues to lease 200 acres of the preserve to the camp.

How may I visit?

The preserve is open from dawn to dusk. Contact the New Jersey Chapter Office at 908-879-7262 for more information.

Visitation Guidelines:

Please stay on Conservancy trails and respect the privacy of the property leased to Trail Blazers Camp.
No fishing, hunting, trapping or collecting.
Motorized vehicles and aircraft are prohibited.
No bicycling, camping, fires (other than authorized prescribed fires), firearms, rock climbing, spelunking, swimming or feeding animals.
Pets (except for seeing eye dogs) are prohibited.

How do I get there?

Take Route 80 to Exit 25/Newton-Route 206 North.
Proceed on Route 206 North for 18 miles to intersection of Routes 15 and 206.
Turn left at traffic light at intersection.
Continue on Route 206 North for 5.5 miles.
Look for Stokes State Forest sign on the left. After sign, proceed 3 miles and turn right at NJ School of Conservation sign onto Flatbrook Rd. (If Flatbrook Rd. is closed due to winter weather, see directions below.*)
Proceed 1 mile, bear to the right and continue on Flatbrook Rd. for 4 miles to Crigger Road.
Pass Stokes State Forest cabins and the road to Lake Ocquittunk on right.
At T-junction with Crigger Rd., turn left.
Go 1 mile, bear right at fork, then turn left onto Route 650 West (Deckertown Tpke.).
Proceed 1/4 mile beyond Trail Blazers Camp entrance to an old dirt road blocked by boulders. A 2-mile loop trail begins here.

*During winter months:

Continue on Route 206 North from Flatbrook Rd. for about 6 miles to Route 653/Clove Rd.
Turn right onto Clove Rd./Route 653.
Travel .7 of a mile and turn right onto Deckertown Tpke./Route 650.
Proceed 3.6 miles and turn left into a small parking area on left. A 2-mile loop trail begins here.