Maurice River
Overview
Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay is a major estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the Northeast seaboard of the United States whose fresh water mixes for many miles with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It is in area. The bay is bordered by the State of New Jersey and the State of Delaware...
in southern New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The Maurice River, pronounced "Morris", is approximately 39.2 miles (63.1 km) long and is the second longest and largest tributary to Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay is a major estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the Northeast seaboard of the United States whose fresh water mixes for many miles with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It is in area. The bay is bordered by the State of New Jersey and the State of Delaware...
. Its watershed includes an extensive southern portion of the coastal forested wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s known as the Pine Barrens
Pine Barrens (New Jersey)
The Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands, is a heavily forested area of coastal plain stretching across southern New Jersey. The name "pine barrens" refers to the area's sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soil, to which the crops originally imported by European settlers didn't take well...
. Its mouth on Delaware Bay is surrounded by extensive salt marsh
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...
es and has provided an historically important oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
ing ground.
It is born at the confluence of Still Run and Scotland Run
Scotland Run
Scotland Run is a tributary of the Maurice River in southern New Jersey in the United States. It flows in a generally southern direction through southern Gloucester County.-References:...
, beneath the waters of Willow Grove Lake in Pittsgrove
Pittsgrove Township, New Jersey
Pittsgrove Township is a Township in Salem County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township population was 9,393....
, Salem County
Salem County, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 64,285 people, 24,295 households, and 17,370 families residing in the county. The population density was 190 people per square mile . There were 26,158 housing units at an average density of 77 per square mile...
and flows generally south-southeast, passing 2 miles (3 km) west of Vineland
Vineland, New Jersey
Vineland is a city in Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 60,724...
.
