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.

Wharton State Forest is the largest single tract of land in the New Jersey State Park System at 122,880 acres, occupying the core of the Pine Barrens — the Pinelands National Reserve in Burlington, Atlantic, and Camden counties that represents one of the largest and most ecologically unusual landscapes in the eastern United States. Within this vast forest of pitch pine, scrub oak, and Atlantic white cedar swamps, the NJDEP designates a network of sand roads and ATV trails that constitute the primary public-land OHV riding opportunity in New Jersey. The Pinelands terrain is unique in the mid-Atlantic: deep, clean sand over the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer, flat to gently rolling topography, and the distinctively open understory of the pine plains that gives Wharton a desert-like spaciousness unusual for the congested northeast corridor. ATV trail routes wind through the pine forest on designated sandy two-tracks and forest roads, crossing the cedar swamp streams that drain toward the Mullica River and Batsto River — both blackwater streams characteristic of the acidic Pinelands hydrology. ATVs and registered dirt bikes are the primary permitted vehicle classes; the sandy terrain and flat grades are well suited to beginner and intermediate riders. The historic Batsto Village within the forest adds a tourism anchor for non-riding companions. New Jersey requires ATV registration; riders must remain on designated ATV routes and are not permitted on all forest roads. Contact the Wharton State Forest office in Hammonton (609-561-0024) for current trail designations and seasonal conditions.