Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.052% of Little Egg Harbor Township’s land is conserved, about 15,873 acres. 13,482 acres are parks and preserves, 633 per 1,000 residents. 93 miles of mapped trail cross Little Egg Harbor Township, 2.0 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 98% of U.S. towns · #40 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Little Egg Harbor Township is ahead of 98% of U.S. towns, #40 of 468 in New Jersey. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; conserved land ranks highest, the share of residents near a park lowest.
New Jersey towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 11%; the U.S., 4%), so Little Egg Harbor Township’s 52% is ahead of 97% of New Jersey towns, while its trails per square mile lead 90% of them.
Water is 35% of Little Egg Harbor Township’s area (26 of 73 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 34%.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
The longest trail network is Bass River State Forest, with 24.3 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
52% of Little Egg Harbor Township’s land. Water is left out: Little Egg Harbor Township has 47.3 square miles of land and 25.6 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Little Egg Harbor Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1 acre is a conservation easement, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 96 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 5,729 | Restricted |
| Bass River State Forest State Resource Management Area | State natural resources | 5,212 | Open |
| Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 4,698 | Open |
| Great Bay Boulevard Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | State fish & wildlife | 2,052 | Open |
| unknown Local Conservation Area | Not recorded | 489 | Open |
| Harbor Group Tpl Partnership State Other or Unknown | State Department of Land | 413 | Open |
| The Sanctuary Local Conservation Area | County | 260 | Open |
| Freedom Fields Park Local Park | Town or city | 232 | Open |
| Litle Egg Harbor Park Local Resource Management Area | County | 194 | Open |
| Atlantis Golf Course Local Recreation Area | County | 160 | Open |
5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
2 beaches without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
5 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
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) | 9.7 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.3 | 15.0 | 14.7 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 9.9 | 9.4 |
| High (°F) | 42 | 45 | 51 | 61 | 71 | 80 | 85 | 83 | 77 | 67 | 56 | 47 |
| Rain (in) | 3.5 | 3.1 | 4.5 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.2 | 4.4 |
February is the driest month (3.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 4.6 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Little Egg Harbor Township →
Little Egg Harbor Township has the second most mapped trails of the 7 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Egg Harbor Township | 52% | 2.0 | 633 | 78% | A+ |
| Bass River Township | 46% | 1.9 | 719 | 41% | A |
| Mystic Island | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Galloway Township | 36% | 0.7 | 118 | 64% | A |
| Long Beach Township | 38% | 0.6 | 17 | 98% | A |
| Beach Haven | 7% | 0.9 | 34 | 99%+ | A |
| Eagleswood Township | 66% | 1.6 | 1,351 | 34% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
The longest trail networks: Bass River State Forest, 24.3 miles; East Plains Natural Area, 17.3 miles; Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve, 0.3 miles; Great Bay Boulevard Wildlife Management Area, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
52% 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.
Bass River State Forest and East Plains Natural Area don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
155,246 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Little Egg Harbor Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 18,647 of them inside the town line.
Ahead of 98% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #40 of 468 in New Jersey. 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.
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Little Egg Harbor Township neighbors.
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 →