New Jersey Forest Service

About forestry service, 8083, Somerdale, NJ, US, New Jersey

Jackson Township is a township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A portion of the township is located within the Pinelands National Reserve. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township's population was 58,544, an increase of 3,688 (+6.7%) from the 2010 census count of 54,856, which in turn reflected an increase of 12,040 (+28.1%) from the 42,816 counted in the 2000 census. Roughly equidistant between New York City and Philadelphia, along with being close to the state capital of Trenton and the Jersey Shore on Interstate 195, Jackson has rapidly grown as an outer-ring suburb of New York within the New York metropolitan area. Jackson is also the site of Six Flags Great Adventure, of Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, and of 350-acre (140 ha) Safari Off Road Adventure, which replaced Six Flags Wild Safari Adventure in 2013, and Adventure Crossing, a mixed-use entertainment complex that opened in 2023. == History == Jackson Township was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 6, 1844, from portions of Dover Township (now Toms River Township), Freehold Township and Upper Freehold Township, while the area was still part of Monmouth County. The township was named for president Andrew Jackson, a year before his death. It became part of the newly created Ocean County on February 15, 1850. Portions of the township were taken to form Plumsted Township on March 11, 1845. On July 1, 1974, under the direction of New York based entrepreneur Warner LeRoy, Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park opened in Jackson Township.