When submitting eBird observations at Belleplain State Forest, it is most helpful to start a new checklist for each hotspot in the state forest. Use the general hotspot when you have a checklist that includes multiple locations or if no other hotspot or personal location is appropriate for your sightings.

For many birders, at least one trip to Belleplain every spring is a “must.” The forest understory, featuring emerging wildflowers with blooming dogwood, followed by blooming mountain laurel and rhododendron, provides a colorful background for viewing the dozens of newly arriving passerines, returning from their winter homes in southern United States, Mexico, and Central and South America. In early May, the forest begins to ring with the songs of the Wood Thrush, Ovenbird, various woodpeckers, tanagers, cuckoos, and a variety of wood warblers, some of which stop in Belleplain before they continue their migration to more northerly nesting grounds.

Belleplain State Forest is a magnificent tract of 22,000+ acres with perhaps the most diverse natural habitats found anywhere in New Jersey. Containing dense and open hardwood and pine forests, white cedar and hardwood swamps, tidal and non-tidal wetlands, grassy fields, and lakes, Belleplain provides a home to an amazing array of mammals, birds, reptiles, butterflies, insects, and fish. Human activity in the Forest centers on The Lake Nummy Recreational Area, with extensive campgrounds, picnic areas, swimming facilities, boating, well-marked hiking, bicycle, and horseback riding trails, and a network of paved and unpaved roads developed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Lake Nummy, covering 26 acres, is a converted cranberry bog created by the CCC and named for the last Lenni Lenape Indian chief. At any time of the year, Belleplain will provide visitors with long-remembered encounters with nature.

From NJ-55 South: Follow NJ-55 South until it ends and becomes NJ-47. Follow NJ-47 for 2.5 miles and bear left onto NJ-347 when it splits and NJ-47 is to the right. Continue along NJ-347 for 5.5 miles and turn left onto CR-550/Spur/Hands Mill Road. (This turn is around a bend, just after you pass Hands Mill Pond.) Follow CR-550/Spur/Hands Mill Road for 3.25 miles to a Stop sign, and turn left. Turn right at the blinking light, and the entrance is located approximately 2 miles ahead on the right. The office is immediately to your right upon entering. You can also reach Belleplain from the Garden State Parkway Exit 17/Sea Isle City. Turn left at the end of the exit ramp toward US-9. Turn right onto US-9 and continue for 0.5 miles. Turn left onto CR-550 and proceed approximately 8.5 miles through the town of Woodbine. When you reach the stop sign with a market to your right, turn left and continue to the blinking light. Turn right onto CR-550. The entrance is 1.3 miles on the left, and the office is immediately on the right.

Forest open 24 hours a day. On-site parking is available. Most of the roads are paved, but following heavy rains in summer and snow in winter, four-wheel drive vehicles may be advisable on certain out-of-the-way unpaved roads in the Forest. From spring until frost, visitors who hike through the forest should be aware of the presence of chiggers and ticks and should bring insect repellent.

Any of the three nature trails around Lake Nummy provides a pleasant and relaxing walk. Interpretive signage tells visitors about local habitats and their inhabitants.