Theres not a lot of other activities in that part of the state for youth to move towards.
I spent "lake day" when I was 18 and drunk at Gravelly Run. I asked Skip Granese how fast his 1968 GTO was, and ended up watching pine trees fly by at 160 mph. In a drunken stupor I asked my date to the prom standing in the middle of a stream at Gravely Run in sneakers. I was 18 and a moron.
I could have been playing tennis (my varsity sport). Or playing baseball, or running track, or weight lifting, or playing chess, or sailing, or swimming, or training to be a lifeguard, or studying for SAT's, or rowing crew at Holy Spirit, or listening to Black Sabbath, or studying Pinelands flora and fauna, or exploring the Pine Barrens that I waited 40 years to eventually do.
There are an infinite number of healthy, wholistic, life affirming activities to engage in when you are young. Besides "4-wheeling" through the woods.
Al, I am very sad to hear about your niece. There is someone very close to us (thankfully not my son) who my wife and I are currently attempting to steer back onto the right track.