Brendan T. Byrne State Forest ATV Trails

Brendan T. Byrne State Forest, formerly Lebanon State Forest, is a 37,000-acre NJDEP-managed state forest in Burlington County in the central Pine Barrens, adjacent to and sharing the same Pinelands ecosystem as the larger Wharton State Forest to the south. The forest is named for a former New Jersey governor instrumental in passing the Pinelands Protection Act of 1979, which designated the region as the country's first National Reserve and established the land-use framework that still governs Pine Barrens access today. Within the forest, the NJDEP designates ATV trail routes on sandy forest roads and purpose-built corridors through the classic Pinelands vegetation: pitch pine and scrub oak plains at the dry upland elevations, Atlantic white cedar swamps in the stream valleys, and the transition zones where fire-adapted pine-oak scrub grades into the taller forest of the wetter terrain. The riding character at Brendan Byrne is quintessentially Pine Barrens: loose sand, flat terrain, good drainage, and the distinctive open-sky feel of the pygmy pine plains where the trees top out below 10 feet. The Lebanon State Forest staging area provides parking and restroom access. Because both Brendan Byrne and Wharton State Forest operate under the same NJDEP permit framework and share the Pinelands landscape, riders who want maximum mileage often plan visits that connect trails between the two forests using the network of sand roads that cross the Pinelands interior. New Jersey ATV registration is required; contact the forest office in New Lisbon (609-726-1191) for current designated ATV route maps and seasonal status.