Pancoast Preserve
Buena Vista Township, Atlantic County
NJNLT
  • Acres:
    417
  • Deer Hunting:
    Permitted
  • Map:
    Open PDF

Preserve Info

Recognized today as an old Atlantic County village site, the Trust’s Pancoast Preserve has its own history. In 1992 the Trust accepted donation of two parcels of land that totaled 250 acres. This donation formed the seed that grew into a much larger and continuous area of protected open space. The preserve is at a headwater area for the Deep Run, a tributary of the Great Egg Harbor River, which is designated a National Wild and Scenic River. Logged in the 1980s for its upland oak hardwoods as well as for valuable Atlantic white cedars growing in the large swamps, Pancoast's forests have regenerated to provide acorn mast crops for squirrels, turkey and deer and habitat for Pine Barrens treefrog in the vigorous young cedar stands. Adventurous hikers might like to search for the yellow, Cletrac, bulldozer left behind in the swamp after the last of the Atlantic white cedar logging. Watch for the red shouldered hawk or barred owl.

Public Access and Uses

Pancoast Mill Road provides the best public access to the preserve. Some old logging roads provide a primitive trail through the forest. The Trust allows registration for deer hunting at this preserve.

barred owl