DEP Announces Virtual Public Meeting to Launch Wharton State Forest Visitor and Vehicle Use Survey

TommyP

Explorer
Mar 30, 2022
185
178
Clementon
thomaspluck.substack.com
All,

Open Trails NJ has produced a webpage to help you "Contact your Representatives" in regards to the DEP future policy on permits. It will walk you through the process of contacting your representative. I encourage everyone to check it out and use the info as best you can.

Do you have more info about the Open Trails NJ people? I tried to join, and their site for taking memberships was offline. So I emailed people using their form and received bouncebacks that they don't exist. Their forum hasn't been posted to in many years, but now there's a new page. I assume they moved most of their posting to Facebook.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,603
8,181
Do you have more info about the Open Trails NJ people? I tried to join, and their site for taking memberships was offline. So I emailed people using their form and received bouncebacks that they don't exist. Their forum hasn't been posted to in many years, but now there's a new page. I assume they moved most of their posting to Facebook.
The emails should work as far as I know. I really don't know what to tell you about membership.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,603
8,181
So what choice do you think is best when contacting the governor? Motor Vehicles, Other, Environment???

choice.jpg
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,944
3,080
Pestletown, N.J.
I just had an epiphany. History does indeed repeat itself.!

Many of you will recall the late Y-Buc Bill from this site who was a very good friend of mine. Bill spent more years tooling around in Wharton than most of will actually live on this earth. He was one of the first enduro riders starting back into the late 1940's on Harley-Davidsons and he hunted, fished and trapped his entire life. Much of his deer hunting was done in Wharton and many of those years were before Wharton was acquired by the State. Bill relayed to me more than once about his trips down to Atsion every fall to obtain a permit to hunt in Wharton from the caretaker of the Wharton Estate, Leeson Small. Small is mentioned in Arthur Pierce's book, Iron in the Pines.

Although Bill never complained about the small fee for a hunting permit, the first attempt to create "The Map" by Auermuller enraged him. Until the day he died at 92 Bill was fully active in the South Jersey Enduro Riders, the NJ Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, my club, Square Circle Sportsmen and the NJOA. He did a lot of work for all of those organizations and did a lot behind the scenes to help in squashing The Map.

We could sure use his fervor for the woods right now. :)
 

SuperChooch

Explorer
Aug 26, 2011
391
428
47
Do you have more info about the Open Trails NJ people? I tried to join, and their site for taking memberships was offline. So I emailed people using their form and received bouncebacks that they don't exist. Their forum hasn't been posted to in many years, but now there's a new page. I assume they moved most of their posting to Facebook.
Hi Tommy, given the relative quiet in recent years, our credit card processor went dormant, but we reactivated it recently. Also, our emails are working, maybe it was a temporary outage? We launched our own forum many years ago, but frankly, most of the “forum” related discussion occurs right here on NJPB so we retired it. Most of our postings occur in FB because that is where most of our traffic is, but the site has been recently updated with the latest news and we will be keeping them both up to date in parallel. Apologies for the issues you were having.
 

woodjin

Piney
Nov 8, 2004
4,338
326
Near Mt. Misery
Not to go off topic, but this weekend I visited a couple environmentally sensitive areas previously compromised by reckless vehicular damage. These areas had been addressed with barricades and signage by a joint effort by the DEP and volunteers. The Aesthetic component to the barricades were designed as best as could be presented. Much to my delight, years after their implementation, the areas remain unmolested. While these are only two areas, I have to acknowledge that I have some confidence that targeted remediation to especially sensitive areas can be successful.

This being case, it would seem logical to continue this methodology than to impose huge blanket restrictions on the general public.

I think it would be greatly beneficial for everyone if the DEP would conduct a true study of impact, severity, frequency, etc of this damage. If such a study has been conducted, I am unaware of it. Maybe I haven’t looked hard enough. I have noticed road closures in the state forest on numerous occasions that seem random. Having experience in both the ecology and history of the region, I have looked over these areas searching for justification of the closures and have been unable to identify the cause. I’m not saying there isn’t a reason, but it would seem there should be documented justification for closing public roads. Specific closures.

I understand that locations of endangered flora and especially fauna, potentially threatened by vehicular use, should not be made public ally available. However, a specific study of identifying the potential threat should be conducted before the closure. From what I have observed this has not been the protocol. If anyone has any information that I am incorrect in this assumption, I would love to see these documentions/reports.
 

Bog Mermaid

New Member
Nov 8, 2021
27
30
Folsom
Well I drove through there yesterday. It was pretty much what I expected. Deadfall piled up to block off areas. Mostly in the grassy area after the bridge.
Lots of deadfall piled up at mm1 beach on the Mullica river. To my knowledge no one had driven on that beach in a very long time. At least the turn in wasn’t blocked again.
 
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Bog Mermaid

New Member
Nov 8, 2021
27
30
Folsom
Not to go off topic, but this weekend I visited a couple environmentally sensitive areas previously compromised by reckless vehicular damage. These areas had been addressed with barricades and signage by a joint effort by the DEP and volunteers. The Aesthetic component to the barricades were designed as best as could be presented. Much to my delight, years after their implementation, the areas remain unmolested. While these are only two areas, I have to acknowledge that I have some confidence that targeted remediation to especially sensitive areas can be successful.

This being case, it would seem logical to continue this methodology than to impose huge blanket restrictions on the general public.

I think it would be greatly beneficial for everyone if the DEP would conduct a true study of impact, severity, frequency, etc of this damage. If such a study has been conducted, I am unaware of it. Maybe I haven’t looked hard enough. I have noticed road closures in the state forest on numerous occasions that seem random. Having experience in both the ecology and history of the region, I have looked over these areas searching for justification of the closures and have been unable to identify the cause. I’m not saying there isn’t a reason, but it would seem there should be documented justification for closing public roads. Specific closures.

I understand that locations of endangered flora and especially fauna, potentially threatened by vehicular use, should not be made public ally available. However, a specific study of identifying the potential threat should be conducted before the closure. From what I have observed this has not been the protocol. If anyone has any information that I am incorrect in this assumption, I would love to see these documentions/reports.
Glad we were able to access these areas and see how they have recovered so beautifully.
 

enormiss

Explorer
Aug 18, 2015
574
366
Atco NJ
Not to go off topic, but this weekend I visited a couple environmentally sensitive areas previously compromised by reckless vehicular damage. These areas had been addressed with barricades and signage by a joint effort by the DEP and volunteers. The Aesthetic component to the barricades were designed as best as could be presented. Much to my delight, years after their implementation, the areas remain unmolested. While these are only two areas, I have to acknowledge that I have some confidence that targeted remediation to especially sensitive areas can be successful.

This being case, it would seem logical to continue this methodology than to impose huge blanket restrictions on the general public.

I think it would be greatly beneficial for everyone if the DEP would conduct a true study of impact, severity, frequency, etc of this damage. If such a study has been conducted, I am unaware of it. Maybe I haven’t looked hard enough. I have noticed road closures in the state forest on numerous occasions that seem random. Having experience in both the ecology and history of the region, I have looked over these areas searching for justification of the closures and have been unable to identify the cause. I’m not saying there isn’t a reason, but it would seem there should be documented justification for closing public roads. Specific closures.

I understand that locations of endangered flora and especially fauna, potentially threatened by vehicular use, should not be made public ally available. However, a specific study of identifying the potential threat should be conducted before the closure. From what I have observed this has not been the protocol. If anyone has any information that I am incorrect in this assumption, I would love to see these documentions/reports.

Many good points for the survey response
 
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bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,154
4,258
Pines; Bamber area
Not to go off topic, but this weekend I visited a couple environmentally sensitive areas previously compromised by reckless vehicular damage. These areas had been addressed with barricades and signage by a joint effort by the DEP and volunteers. The Aesthetic component to the barricades were designed as best as could be presented. Much to my delight, years after their implementation, the areas remain unmolested. While these are only two areas, I have to acknowledge that I have some confidence that targeted remediation to especially sensitive areas can be successful.

This being case, it would seem logical to continue this methodology than to impose huge blanket restrictions on the general public.

I think it would be greatly beneficial for everyone if the DEP would conduct a true study of impact, severity, frequency, etc of this damage. If such a study has been conducted, I am unaware of it. Maybe I haven’t looked hard enough. I have noticed road closures in the state forest on numerous occasions that seem random. Having experience in both the ecology and history of the region, I have looked over these areas searching for justification of the closures and have been unable to identify the cause. I’m not saying there isn’t a reason, but it would seem there should be documented justification for closing public roads. Specific closures.

I understand that locations of endangered flora and especially fauna, potentially threatened by vehicular use, should not be made public ally available. However, a specific study of identifying the potential threat should be conducted before the closure. From what I have observed this has not been the protocol. If anyone has any information that I am incorrect in this assumption, I would love to see these documentions/reports.
I agree Jeff. Having some skepticisim with a request for facts is far superior to the statement that "there are hundreds and hundreds of areas this bad"
 
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smoke_jumper

Piney
Mar 5, 2012
1,518
1,050
Atco, NJ
Lots of deadfall piled up at mm1 beach on the Mullica river. To my knowledge no one had driven on that beach in a very long time. At least the turn in wasn’t blocked again.
I thought there may have been new deadfall placed there but I wasn’t sure. To my knowledge there was no new damage there either. They even mentioned how effective the railings were on the Fix Our Parks blog I saw. I prefer those railings to deadfall
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,603
8,181
They better be thinking that since the public is ignoring their survey they will also ignore getting a permit.
 
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