What I call my “Reclamation Forest” is actually just a ten-or-so-acre patch of forest and ponds next to the Jersey Turnpike in East Brunswick. For what it lacks in location, it makes up for in spades in biodiversity. The xeric lowland soils, possibly a product of previous sand quarrying, host a variety of pines, mosses, ferns lichens, while the more mesic burms and hills are covered in native beeches, maples and oaks. There’s always something to see in this little patch of forest, and it’s one of my all-time favorite places.