Well, I think thats going a bit far. Why would the PPA care about people driving their cars fast on the Parkway?
Okay, so here's the situation:
1) There were people with ATV's who rode irresponsibly. Who did damage wetlands, etc. I believe they were a minority, but the DEP feels otherwise.
2) Due to lobbying efforts from groups such as the PPA, as well as other environmentalist concerns, the DEP Mandate gets passed in 2003. All this does is close the woods to legally registered/insured ATV's, and increase fines from whatever they were before to $1000. There are also provisions for the police to impound the ATV. There is also a promise that the state will construct two new ATV parks by 2005. (Note, this gives them 2 years to just run wild and ticket everybody without offering a solution.)
3) 2005 comes and goes. No parks. Any attempt to build one is blocked by various groups and people like Fred Akers.
3) 2008, the lone park that is in operation is set to shut down in September. It's on land leased by the NJ Conservation Foundation (the same folks that own/run the Parker Preserve.) Asked if the ORV park can extend their lease on the land which is already destroyed and sitting next to property that was destroyed by Pioneer Smelting they're told "not a snowballs chance."
Here's the problem:
1) Parents are buying ORV's and whatnot for their kids, and letting them go out riding unsupervised. I see many, many, many young (middle school aged) kids on quads riding around. I'll be perfectly honest, when I was that age and if I had a quad, I would have headed towards the biggest, muddiest part of the woods and went to town. This is bad.
2) Some other riders don't really have an appreciation of the environment. Now, I'm not saying that they should all be environmentalists, but know that that very tempting strip of wetlands that would be fun to drive through might hold some endangered species. Even if it doesn't, it's been pristine for millions of years, and (IMHO) it's really lame for someone to come along and tear it up for "thrills" they will forget all about by the time they get home.
3) Politicians are afraid to go against the environmentalists on this one. The second someone stands up for riders, they will be savagely attacked by environmentalist groups and green politicians. "Oh, so you SUPPORT the destruction of our environment?"
4) The ORV community is incredibly fractured, with most members either not caring ("that endangered plant looks like a weed"), apathetic ("i'll just ride at chatsworth, or park my bike"), or angry (like myself or Whitingrider.)
5) The leadership of the ORV community is pretty much useless. Environmental groups know how to work the media, they know how to bend the pols to their wills. The "leaders" of the ORV community need to learn how to do the same, otherwise their rights will never be represented. Of course, the environmental groups have it easy since most of their members are really passionate about what they're doing, while it seems most ORV enthusiasts are terminally lazy when it comes to standing up for themselves.
5) When the DEP mandate happened, they attempted to silence the furor they knew would happen by throwing the bone of "two new parks by '05." This was a promise, and they broke that promise. It's now the DEP's responsibility to fulfill that promise, and they need to get stepping on that. Commissioner Cambell is now out, so we can't really hold him responsible, but the powers that be in there need to step up and come up with a solution.
Every time I wrote the DEP about this, I never got a response. I'm sure, though, that if I wrote the DEP about anything else that I would get a response. The NJ DEP is actually the first government organization that has never even sent me even a form letter in response to a letter that I mailed them.
Solutions?
1) Mandatory registration and insurance for all ORV's, done at time of sale. Make it work just like it does when you buy a car.
2) Age limits on ORV's. When you're 17 you can ride one. Just like a car. Make it so you need a special license, and in the training for that, spend some time on responsible riding.
3) If you don't want riders on State Land, then build the parks. You promised this. The state has facilities for other groups activities (hunters, hikers, campers, equestrians, etc.) so why should the ORV community be shut out?
4) The ORV community needs to really step up to the plate and work to come to some real solution, that probably includes compromises, and demonstrate real leadership.
5) The environmental community needs to become part of the solution instead of digging their heels in and saying "no" all the time. Even though Russ says "why is it my problem?", when you're giving people places to ride that are safe and shift them from sensitive areas to designated spots that the impact they will make is minimal, it accomplishes the goal of environmental protection.
6) Those who choose to flaunt the law should be punished. If you ride an unregistered ORV, you should be looking at a fine and lose your drivers license for a time, just like you would if you were driving an unregistered car. If you're driving a registered ORV on State land, you should get a hell of a fine. No need to chase you, a ranger with binoculars can get your plate number.
Until riders grow up, and until environmental groups climb down off their pedistals, this problem ain't going to be solved. We can have 100 pages of posts in this thread, with Whitingrider and Russ going back and forth at each other and it won't solve anything. What we need is maturity (from both sides), compromise (from both sides), and action.
igfly:
