This week, our team at Novel Logic Studios headed out on a drone scouting mission in northwest New Jersey — and we found something special. Tucked away in the quiet ridges of Warren County, Jenny Jump State Forest offers a stunning blend of natural beauty, trails, and primitive shelters you can rent for as little as $48 per night. It’s one of those rare places that feels like it’s been waiting to be documented — and we’re seriously considering setting up base here for a few weeks as part of our Sparrow Archive Project.

Why Jenny Jump?

The forest itself is full of contrasts: dense woodland trails one minute, sweeping views of the mountains the next. It’s quiet. Undisturbed. And most importantly, it’s accessible. The park offers:

  • Bare-bones cabins for affordable rental (perfect for extended stays)

  • Modern showers and basic amenities nearby

  • Fire rings and picnic tables for outdoor meals and gear staging

  • Miles of trails ideal for seasonal documentation and repeat flyover missions

  • A unique elevation range, which gives us a ton of aerial variety — from low forest canopy to cliffside drop-offs

It’s a great testing ground not only for drone flight paths, but also for evolving our citizen science storytelling through video, data, and immersive visuals.

Our Purpose: The Sparrow Archive

For those unfamiliar, the Sparrow Archive is one of our core in-house initiatives at Novel Logic Studios. It’s a citizen science project designed to track seasonal changes in public natural spaces using drone footage, 360 capture, and AI-assisted analysis. The idea is to build a living record — not just of landscapes, but of the subtle shifts in water levels, tree health, soil erosion, and biodiversity over time.

Jenny Jump gives us the ideal conditions to:

  • Run longitudinal flyover studies

  • Practice drone-to-ground documentation workflows

  • Train new contributors in how to gather effective visual records

  • And eventually, create a strong partnership with state parks to archive their own ecological storylines

Content Creation: A Peek Behind the Lens

As part of our YouTube design and thumbnail lab, we also captured a short teaser video of the park during our visit. The video is part of our “visual logbook” — a hybrid between scouting footage and creative portfolio. It gives a sense of what’s possible in the space, and how drone media can elevate awareness of public land like this.

We’re currently testing new thumbnail design styles and story formats through this footage — the kind that stops the scroll and draws people into nature’s narrative.

What’s Next?

We’ll be spending the next few weeks exploring whether Jenny Jump becomes our next field site. If you’re a fellow documentarian, state park official, or just someone who loves the idea of preserving natural beauty through modern tech — reach out. We’re actively looking to partner with parks and nature-focused organizations across the U.S.

📍Until then, we’ll be up in the hills, recording quietly — one frame at a time.