Stokes State Forest

Stokes State Forest is a state park located partly in Sandyston Township, in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. Stokes comprises 15,482 acres (62.7 km²) of mountainous wood. The park is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.

Sunrise Mountain

Sunrise Mountain is a mountain peak where one can view both the sunrise and sunset from one location. The pavilion at the top of the peak makes a great place to picnic. To make traveling to Sunrise more interesting, one can look for the New Jersey shaped rock. The Mountain is located over 1,500 feet above sea level leaving hikers with an amazing view. To get there, the hiking stretch spans less than a mile from a parking lot nearby. However, if you park at the first parking lot it is a five mile hike one way. The town of Wantage can be seen from the top of the mountain.

Stony Lake

Stony Lake is a beach surrounded by picnic tables, pavilions, shower and dressing rooms, a new bathroom with flushing toilets and woods. The beach is host to many summer camps during the months of July and August. The lake is life guarded at all swimming hours. The lake also offers many spots to fish, hike, and explore the forest as one may please.However, there are admission prices to the lake. There are also many playgrounds such as Kittle Field to take young children to.

Tillman Ravine

Tillman Ravine Natural Area is a 525 acre section of evergreen forest surrounding Tillman Brook. Several trails run through this area, providing views of waterfalls, pools, and rock formations. Tillman Ravine is a habitat for the Barred Owl and other endangered species.

School of Conservation

The New Jersey School of Conservation is one of the largest university run camps in the state of New Jersey, operated by and part of Montclair State University, in Montclair as its Environmental Education Field Campus. The "school" is host to music and environmental awareness camps. It is the largest and oldest university-operated environmental education center in the nation. It is located 57 miles from the Montclair campus on a 240 acre (1 km²) tract in the center of Stokes State Forest.

Each academic year the School of Conservation provides environmental education programs for nearly 9,000 elementary/secondary school students, and nearly 1,000 teachers from approximately 100 schools. There are also field courses for graduate students and weekend workshops designed to train pre-service and in-service teachers and youth leaders in environmental education curriculum development and field techniques. The school has become the focus of intense environmental research in recent years, with the establishment of MSU's Doctoral program in Environmental Management and the Passaic River Institute, among other major research initiatives.

ee also

*List of New Jersey state parks

External links

* [http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/stokes.html Official site]
* [http://www.abandonedmines.net/snook.htm Stokes State Forest Silver Mine]