SMALL: ISLAND BEACH 35 



Dr. Shull, the writer, and others have been taking advanced classes to 

 Island Beach for study over a period of years. Many other interested groups 

 have been conducted over the area. The Torrey Botanical Club selected this 

 and the pine barrens for its 75th Anniversary foray as the two most unique 

 and important areas within its range. If we should preserve representative 

 pieces of natural vegetation as museum pieces for posterity, here is what 

 Island Beach has to offer: 1, Beach vegetation for nine miles on the open 

 ocean and an equal distance on the bay ; 2, Dune vegetation in all stages of its 

 dynamics ; 3, Dune thickets ; 4, Dune hollows ; 5, Fresh marsh ; 6, Salt marsh ; 

 7 , Acres of Hudsonia heath ; 8, Coastal plain forest ; 9, Southern white cedar 

 swamp; and 10, Bog. 



The last three of these plant communities are of particular interest in 

 their resemblance, on a miniature scale, to the similar communities constitut- 

 ing the well known pine barrens of inland southern New Jersey. May it be 

 that we are seeing here the floristics that once occurred on that area? 



In view of the turbulent history of Island Beach, its present unified owner- 

 ship, and the relatively moderate disturbance that has thus far occurred, it 

 seems unlikely that there will be a more opportune and desirable time of 

 transferring it to the status of a natural history preserve, if it is deemed 

 worthy of preservation. The National Park Service remains interested and 

 seems the most desirable administrative agency. The initiative must be taken 

 by the State, an enabling act must be passed by the Congress, and, perhaps 

 most difficult of all, the land must be purchased. 



New Jersey College for Women 



Rutgers University 



New Brunswick, New Jersey 



