On November 10, 1978, Congress began what was commonly referred to as an experiment: It designated 1.1 million acres in New Jersey as America’s first national reserve.

The New Jersey Pinelands stand as an ecological marvel and as a testament to legislation that preserved the environmentally sensitive area in the nation’s most urbanized state. The Pinelands Preservation Act slammed the door on would-be developers who were eager to build with little regard for pristine wetlands, forests and diverse wildlife. 
The area thus became known for its variety of endangered species, pygmy pines and thriving cranberry and blueberry industries. While preserving the ecology, the legacy of early settlers in the Pinelands has also been kept alive, with historic villages at Batsto and Double Trouble detailing the early glass- making, cedar and bog-iron industries. And beneath the sandy soil of the Pinelands lies a massive aquifer of pure water that feeds the streams and bogs that flow throughout the preserve. 

The Cohansey Aquifer, which underlies much of the Pinelands, is estimated to contain more than 17 trillion gallons of some of the purest water in the country. 

Through the past 20 years, it has become clear that the act and the federal legislation adopted in 1978 were flawed. But the evidence of success remains in the lush greenery that spans seven counties in central and southern New Jersey.*

With their huge tracts of vacant land, the Pinelands were an obvious place for the government to locate military bases and similar facilities. These installations now occupy about 46,000 acres, with 30,000 acres in the Preservation Area. The four major ones are Fort Dix, McGuire Air Force Base, Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Center, and the Federal Aviation Administration Technical Center in Atlantic County. The Plan includes them in Military and Federal Installation Areas. New land uses are generally permitted if they are in keeping with the Plan's development standards. Activities essential to national security are exempt from the Commission review. 

Link to: http://www.state.nj.us/pinelands/cmp.htm .

* From www.pressplus.com by Matt Downing