About the Webmaster

I am Cathy Antener, owner/publisher of PineyPower Enterprises, pineypower.com, PineyPower Tours and author of "Discovering New Jersey's Pine Barrens." I'm a "Jersey Girl" who has lived in the NJ Pine Barrens area for over 35 years. I grew up in Red Bank in Monmouth County and moved into the Pine Barrens of Lakehurst in 1978. A "change of lifestyle" let me to the Waretown/Barnegat area in 1982. In 1996, I began publishing a Pine Barrens website, to become PineyPower.com in 1998. In 2006, I started PineyPower Tours, where I am the tour coordinator and guide. I sit on the Board of Directors of the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce, and also a member of the "Green Committee" geared to bringing ecological awareness to tourism.

While I can't claim the honor of centuries of ancestry here in the pines (I'm only a 4th generation American, of Swiss-German-English descent), I nonetheless have a thirst for knowledge about the area, and find that the more I know, the less I know! History, geography, economy, horticulture, ecology, geology, biology, botany and even art and literature are all alive and well here, and there's always a lot to learn on every subject!

I honed my basic knowledge of the Pine Barrens while I was employed by the Ocean County Department of Parks and Recreation until 2001, where I was a member of the first - and several subsequent - "Pine Barrens Jamboree" planning committees . I also spent a lot of time assisting in the development of several County Parks, including Wells Mills County Park in Waretown, Patriots' County Park in Jackson, and Eno's Pond County Park in Forked River. I worked in cooperation with both the NJ Pinelands Commission and the NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection in the course of my 18 years with Ocean County. After a six-year hiatus (actually selling real estate full time), I decided to make my Pine Barrens passion my livelihood. Although I still hold my NJ Real Estate license, I now devote myself entirely to PINEYPOWER!

Personally, I live in the western area of Barnegat NJ with my Greyhound, "Isaac G. Hound" aka Zackers, and all the critters in my big backyard.

Since letting my yard go "natural" (no fertilizers, herbicides or insecticides, and minimal watering) over the past 10 years, I've been suprised with the wildflowers cropping up! My yard is often the locale for many of my nature photos!