It looks like this thread has died down recently, especially regarding people's motives for vandalising and disrespecting the natural world. BUT, as a man who grew up exploring the Pines in more recent years (late 90s - early 00s), I'd like to weigh in.
I'm 28 years old, born and raised in lower Camden County very near the southwest fringes of Wharton State Forest. My first job ever was as a member of the Clean Communities Program in Wharton (summer '99 and summer '00), which brought teenagers out to the State Forest to work 40 hrs a week for the summer months cleaning up litter from popular and not-so popular locations. It was basically license to drive around in the woods for 8 hours a day, and through that as well as a family that took frequent trips into the woods, I developed a serious connection to the natural world. I've spent the last 3 years travelling around the country as a member of the Student Conservation Association (SCA), doing environmental education, restoration, and maintaining trails in National Forests, National Parks, and BLM lands in New Hampshire, California, Oregon, Alaska, and now Virginia.
As a teen, I was definitely quite at odds with my peers who saw the vast Pine Barrens as a place to do seedy things because of the lack of authority figures there. Once I got my driver's license, it was interesting to see how different my idea of a drive in the woods was compared with other large truck owners at my high school: I was one to take my topos, a few cds, maybe some herbal remedy (I was no saint), and enjoy a mostly quiet communing with the forest. I'd like to keep the music down to hear the sound of the sand under the tires. Others were more inclined to blast their music while plowing through mud holes and throwing trash on the side of dirt roads.
I've had a lot of chances to observe how the natural world is treated in quite a few diverse places. It may be a severe generalization, but I think New Jersey is succeptible to ignorance in particular because of such a lack of blatant wildness in places where most of the trouble makers (presumably) grow up. I was lucky to have grown up in Blue Anchor, where there are thankfully still large open tracts of woods and fields, and to see and explore things like that every day as a child probably had something to do with my lifelong appreciation for such things. Of course, having parents who would identify birds in the yard and take us on drives in the woods was probably even more beneficial to an awareness of the wilderness. I don't believe the disrespect for the Pines is wanton, but rather fueled by a lack of knowledge of what such openness means and what it can provide. When you grow up surrounded by pavement, fences, houses, cars, buildings, etc, I suppose it isn't a stretch to see open land as an opportunity to throw off everyday shackles, and for most kids that translates into doing pointless things like throwing televisions off of fire towers.
Having 3 years of experience with a conservation nonprofit, I have a small pipe dream of one day starting up a New Jersey Conservation Corps, with a focus on advocacy and education, especially in the Pine Barrens. I was a member of SCA's New Hampshire Conservation Corps in 2009, which included 9 weeks of environmental education in fourth grade classrooms in Manchester, NH's largest city, with a focus on place-based education centered around the Merrimack River which flows right through the middle of Manchester. It was amazing to see how the kids responded so warmly when we informed them of the ecological treasures right outside their homes, not in the Amazon or the Sahara, but right there in southern New Hampshire. Most classes even got to go on a field trip to the State Park where our corps was based, so they could see some of the plants and animals they learned about up close. Sounds rather lofty, especially considering the financial backing needed for such a program, but I think it is a possibility for the Garden State. I guess I just need to finally come home and get started on it!
This has been my novel for the day...thanks for reading, if you've made it this far. I look forward to visiting this site often now that I know about it.
-Marko
