Alpha Community Park
Managed by Borough Of Alpha
37 acres0.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0AOutdoors
Outdoors in Alpha
16% of Alpha’s land is conserved, and virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 16% of Alpha’s land is conserved, about 171 acres. The biggest trail networks: Alpha Community Park (0.6 mi).
Ahead of 92% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
16%
171 acres · of 1.7 sq mi of land
Trails
0.9 mi
0.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
70 ac
29 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Alpha?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Alpha have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Alpha is ahead of 92% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of residents near a park ranks highest, trail miles lowest.
A
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Alpha’s overall grade.
Conserved land16% of the land · typical NJ town 11% · U.S. 4%ATrails0.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · NJ 0.7 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land29 acres of park per 1,000 residents (70 acres) · NJ 25 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · NJ 98% · U.S. 72%A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 92%
LessMore
New Jersey towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 11%; the U.S., 4%), so Alpha’s 16% is ahead of 61% of New Jersey towns, while its trails per square mile lead 41% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Alpha Community Park, with 0.6 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
John Dolak Ballfield
Managed by Borough of Alpha
6 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
McKinley Park
Managed by Borough of Alpha
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
171 conserved acres
16% of Alpha’s land. Who manages Alpha’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
County243 ac
Town or city40 ac
Other state land18 ac
Agricultural Easement · 260 acLocal Recreation Area · 40 acUnknown Easement · 1 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 131 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Dolak Memorial Pool Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 39 | Open |
| McKinnley Park Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 1 | Open |
Things to do
2 places to go in Alpha
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Alpha
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
7Baseball
3Soccer
3Pickleball
1Football
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Alpha: April to June, August and September
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.6 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.4 | 15.1 | 14.8 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.3 |
| High (°F) | 38 | 41 | 50 | 63 | 73 | 81 | 86 | 83 | 77 | 65 | 54 | 43 |
| Rain (in) | 3.4 | 2.7 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 5.0 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 3.3 | 4.2 |
February is the driest month (2.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 86 °F). 5.0 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Alpha →
Questions about parks and trails in Alpha
Where can I hike in Alpha?
The longest trail networks: Alpha Community Park, 0.6 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Alpha is conserved land?
16% of its land, against a typical 11% for a New Jersey town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Alpha’s trails?
Alpha Community Park and John Dolak Ballfield don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Alpha?
20,677 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Alpha or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 70 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Alpha have?
Ahead of 92% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Alpha neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →