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

enormiss

Explorer
Aug 18, 2015
607
409
Atco NJ
You knew the data was skewed as soon as you saw the map! Great job on requesting the data and digging in to find out how many were ignored. Well Done… Just sent a little note to our Governor with a link to the video
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,952
8,695
Everyone should go to the OpenTrailsNJ website and click on the link to "Contact The Governor" by text message. If you don't want to join the reply portion of the text message just ignore that when it shows up.

 

TheePackRat

Scout
Mar 27, 2014
33
31
Atco
Sent email, added on that this effects my recreation directly. Classic case of ‘manipulate the data to get your desired results’.

It won’t stop with motorized vehicles. I’ve already seen a paid proponent of this map using the term mechanized in place of motorized. Mechanized has been used to include bicycles and keep them out of the wilderness.
 

Bog Mermaid

New Member
Nov 8, 2021
28
36
Folsom
I thought it was crazy that it seemed like I was the only one that liked some of my favorite locations in Wharton.
When this survey went out I had a lot of questions about how the data would be quantified and processed, and then finally presented. Found it difficult to understand how the data would actually be used. I had chosen to submit a statement because I was not sure if they places outlined would be considered places to protect or places I like to access. They asked for places that were important. I understand the impracticality of trying to translate data like that into something meaningful. Having parameters explained before the survey was made available would have produced a more accurate picture with clearer intent. I’m disappointed that the limitations on acreage outlined were not fully disclosed by the NJDEP.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,952
8,695
All,

I am posting again to ask all of you who have not contacted the governor by text message on the OpenTrails site to please do so.

 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,054
3,327
Pestletown, N.J.
"The Wharton motor vehicle plan process is an example of good government at work. After nearly eight years of online and in-person public hearings, surveys and the work of professionals in six different state agencies, the DEP has a solid plan based on the input from thousands of stakeholders as well as law enforcement, forest firefighters, forest managers, wildlife management and endangered species experts and historical preservation specialists that will ensure safe motor vehicle access to the entirety of Wharton State Forest while also protecting the Pinelands from further destruction."

What a bunch of $hit.
 

NJPinesExplorer

New Member
Sep 14, 2016
14
41
Mount Laurel, NJ
It perfectly hits all the PPA and NJ DEP talking points. Points in favor of the plan are exaggerated and the few opposing points mentioned are downplayed. Very much an “opinion” piece given all the reality which is glossed over.

If you showed me some of the contents of that op-ed with no other context I’d assume it was written by Jason.
 

svr32

New Member
Sep 1, 2015
6
16
54
Hammonton, NJ
It perfectly hits all the PPA and NJ DEP talking points. Points in favor of the plan are exaggerated and the few opposing points mentioned are downplayed. Very much an “opinion” piece given all the reality which is glossed over.

If you showed me some of the contents of that op-ed with no other context I’d assume it was written by Jason.

"If you showed me some of the contents of that op-ed with no other context I’d assume it was written by Jason."

I was thinking the same thing when I read that article. Thats the kind of one sided fluff only Jason and the PPA can generate. The DEP is an absolute out of control agency. Who can praise them for anything?
 

enormiss

Explorer
Aug 18, 2015
607
409
Atco NJ
“In the past few years there has been widespread and illegal off-road vehicle abuse…
To address this problem professionals in several government agencies have undertaken a painstaking analysis of Wharton State Forest in the heart of the Pinelands to determine how to preserve it by limiting access.”

I would be embarrassed to put my name on the first two sentences…

Some can’t follow the law, they can’t figure out how to enforce the law, but giving a significantly reduced map is going to cure it all :bang:
 
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