From the Barrens to the Bay

The three main goals of our From the Barrens to the Bay courses are:

Discovery--explore the unique habitats and species in and around our community.
Stewardship--monitor, improve, and care for the wetlands on PRHS property.
Communication--share our findings, knowledge, and efforts with others!

About the Barrens to Bay program:

"Barrens to Bay" was a new program implemented at Pinelands Regional High School for the 2022-23 school year. This course was developed based on student interest after many "virtual field trips" during the COVID shutdown and restart in 2020 & 2021. With the success of the inaugural 2022-2023 Honors Ecology class, the program was expanded and the CP Environmental Science course was re-written and Advanced Ecology was developed for Junior students who completed Honors Ecology and wanted to continue their understanding. For an overview of topics for each level, go here: Curriculum Map

Video recorded & edited by Inaugural Barrens to Bay & Video Productions students Conor Quinlan & Logan Witzke

2024-2025 Barrens to Bay Classes

Period 2

Period 3

2023-2024 Barrens to Bay Classes

Period 1

Period 2

Period 3

Period 3 (Advanced)

Period 1

The Inaugural Classes:

2022-23 School Year

Period 2

Period 3

We will be working on several projects with organizations including:

In the News:

Ocean County high school students preserve local cranberry bog for classFrom the barrens to the bay, Pinelands Regional High School students have been participating in a brand-new course this year aimed at preserving an abandoned cranberry bog right in their backyard.

Class Explores From The Barrens To The BayLITTLE EGG HARBOR – A popular new honors class at Pinelands Regional High School takes advantage of the school’s natural surroundings and proximity to the bay to provide students with an immersive ecological experience unlike any other. Spanning over 40 acres within the Pine Barrens, the school’s campus offers access to wooded paths, former […]

Students Explore the Barrens and Bay at Pinelands Regional - The SandPaperPinelands Regional High School students are learning about the natural ecosystems that exist just steps outside their classrooms in an honors ecology course, “From the Barrens to the Bay,” taught by James Ardoin. In a presentation to the Little Egg Harbor Township Environmental Commission on Thursday, April 24, Ardoin discussed the students’ coursework. The class uses the Pinelands Regional campus <a href="https://www.thesandpaper.net/articles/students-explore-the-barrens-and-bay-at-pinelands-regional/">[…]</a>

Pinelands Ecology Students Make the Grade and Get on TV - The SandPaperThe students in Pinelands Regional High School teacher Jim Ardoin’s ecology class got the opportunity to do many things this past year. The class, a new offering in the 2022-23 school year, is formally named “Honors Ecology: From The Barrens to the Bay.” It was open to juniors and seniors and was focused on three goals: the discovery of local <a href="https://www.thesandpaper.net/articles/pinelands-ecology-students-make-the-grade-and-get-on-tv/">[…]</a>

Pinelands Regional Student, Teacher Named Environmental Heroes - The SandPaperReal impacts within a community often come to fruition through smaller, individual efforts. This is certainly the case for a young Little Egg Harbor resident, Matilda Voss, who was recently recognized for her environmental work in the township. A freshman at Pinelands Regional High School, she was dubbed one of two “environmental heroes” of 2025 at the Jan. 8 township <a href="https://www.thesandpaper.net/articles/pinelands-regional-student-teacher-named-environmental-heroes/">[…]</a>

Pinelands Regional Has Biggest Pitch Pine Tree in New Jersey - The SandPaperIt’s not Hyperion, the biggest redwood tree and the tallest living tree in the world at 380.8 feet, but there is a tree on the Pinelands Regional School District campus that is now in the record books. The tree was just certified as the largest pitch pine (Pinus rigida) ever recorded in Garden State history. It has a circumference of <a href="https://www.thesandpaper.net/articles/pinelands-regional-has-biggest-pitch-pine-tree-in-new-jersey/">[…]</a>

Residents, Schools, Municipalities Pilot Jersey-Friendly Yards Certification Program - Ocean County Soil Conservation DistrictThe Jersey-Friendly Yards Certification Program engages individuals and communities in stewardship actions that help manage stormwater and reduce and prevent non-point source pollution, such as nutrient fertilizers that run off lawns and into our creeks, rivers and bay.

Pinelands Cleanup Volunteers Refuse to Be Bogged Down - The SandPaperEarth Day 2023 fell on a Saturday so it attracted many dozens of volunteers in Little Egg Harbor, with groups or individuals conducting cleanups of neighborhoods and roadsides in many areas of the township. One of the efforts was especially interesting, a cleanup of the bogs and the surrounding woods behind Pinelands Regional High School. Nearly two dozen people including <a href="https://www.thesandpaper.net/articles/pinelands-cleanup-volunteers-refuse-to-be-bogged-down/">[…]</a>

Find out about the NJ Pine Barrens, Barnegat Bay, and our own Giffords Mill Branch Bogs!

Giffords Mill Stream & Bogs:

The Giffords Mill Branch is a freshwater stream that flows from the Bass River State Forest through PRHS property into Pohatcong Lake and out to Barnegat Bay as part of the Tuckerton Creek Watershed.

Barrens to Bay Content Resources & Reference

Materials

History & Culture

Field Guides

Page updated

Report abuse