12 for 12! We’re starting off the New Year right with a visit to the DEC’s Ridge Conservation Area. This area is prime Pine Barrens land, and it sits just beside some of our “Best of the Rest” properties. In addition, it provides a really great overview of the diverse array of habitats that can be found in the Pine Barrens. The Ridge Conservation Area also has a great trail for exercising and bird watching – some of the best activities to ring in 2025!
Before we discuss the park itself, I want to highlight a special program: the First Day Hikes. Every year, on January 1st (and sometimes a few subsequent days), the New York State Parks and the DEC host guided hikes at various preserves around the state. For this 12 for 12, I went on a First Day Hike at the Ridge Conservation Area. In addition to being led by a knowledgeable park ranger, who discussed everything from the history of the conservation area to the ongoing work combatting the Southern Pine Beetle, the First Day hike also included a handful of freebies (including a nice pair of gloves, and some bandanas), as well as a raffle for a hiking gift card (though, in years past, the prize was an Empire Pass). If you don’t mind heading down the trails with a few dozen people, then there’s a lot to love about First Day Hikes, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t start planning for January 1, 2026!
When it comes to the Ridge Conservation Area itself, there’s a lot to love, regardless of whether you’re hiking in a group or by yourself. The trails are decently wide, and largely free of roots and rocks, meaning you’re not likely to trip. There are substantial changes in elevation over the course of the trail, which makes a hike at even a modest pace a really fulfilling workout. And, if you’re unable to handle the longer 2.5 mile loop, there are branching paths that can shorten your hike to little more than a mile. There are a wide range of habitats to explore, from grasslands in the midst of succession, to small ponds with boardwalks allowing you an unrestricted view of a large pond, to dense pine forests. It’s an ecological tour de force for the Pine Barrens and for Long Island at large, and that alone makes it worth the visit.
One of the things you’ll notice if you visit the Ridge Conservation Area is that its forests have been ravaged by the Southern Pine Beetle (SPB). It’s undoubtedly a depressing sight (made all the more so when on a guided hike since the guide will undoubtedly point out all the ways in which trees can suffer and die) but ultimately a necessary one. If one is to remain focused and motivated in the work to combat the climate change that brought the SPBs here, the rampant development that is devastating so much of Long Island, and all of the other ills that work to destroy the planet we all share, then one must see first-hand the toll these things are taking. For as harrowing a sight as a forest of dead and dying trees can be, there is a beauty to be found in it. Life persists, even if it’s in different forms. Brown Creepers, perfectly camouflaged, skitter up and down the bare trunks. Hairy Woodpeckers find nesting cavities in the hardwood. And fungi of all kinds break down the trees, the essence of which energizes a different form of life, which itself can be the foundation of a whole new ecosystem.
The Ridge Conservation Area is a great place to visit. Whether you’re an ecologist looking for some unusual organisms, a conservationist looking for a source of righteous fury, or someone looking for a pleasant place to exercise, this preserve can provide you with what you’re looking for. And, odds are, it will provide you with plenty you weren’t looking for, too.
By Travis Cutter, Long Island Pine Barrens Society