Fix Our Parks

NJCoastal

NJCoastal

Scout
Oct 19, 2021
43
19
69
Mount Laurel, NJ
Ben Ruset said:
Welcome back!

I don't think that there's a single person here who would argue against your statement.
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I concur! On target with your latest post @G. Russell Juelg. The only topic of concern is the absence of markers to guide those who decide to travel the sand roads. IMHO, if blazes can be posted for hiking and equestrian trails, as well as signs for ecological sensitive areas, then markers for sand roads seem like a reasonable request. I do believe the number of sand roads should be increased on a Motorized Access Plan expanded to cover all of the Pinelands National Reserve. Outdoor recreation for ALL.

Pinelands National Reserve NJ.JPG
 
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G. Russell Juelg

Explorer
Jul 31, 2006
284
51
Burlington County
NJCoastal said:
I concur! On target with your latest post @G. Russell Juelg. The only topic of concern is the absence of markers to guide those who decide to travel the sand roads. IMHO, if blazes can be posted for hiking and equestrian trails, as well as signs for ecological sensitive areas, then markers for sand roads seem like a reasonable request. I do believe the number of sand roads should be increased on a Motorized Access Plan expanded to cover all of the Pinelands National Reserve. Outdoor recreation for ALL.

View attachment 17675
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From what I have heard, the current thinking is that a digital map for Wharton, and eventually other places, will be created, but I don't know if the state intends to publish it in hard copy. If they don't, of course, users could take their digital copies to Staples or wherever and print their own hard copies. I don't think they intend to mark the authorized roads. They may just take the position that, if you leave any of the primary roads, it's your responsibility to know whether or not you are staying on a legitimate road. That's obviously a very imperfect approach, but, evidently nobody thinks it's feasible to blaze all the authorized roads. My thought is that, there's so much vandalism out there, it's hard to imagine that a marking system could be maintained without almost constant effort. It seems inevitable that you'd have yahoos out there defacing the markers and duplicating the markers on "roads" that aren't part of the legit system.
 
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NJCoastal

NJCoastal

Scout
Oct 19, 2021
43
19
69
Mount Laurel, NJ
G. Russell Juelg said:
From what I have heard, the current thinking is that a digital map for Wharton, and eventually other places, will be created, but I don't know if the state intends to publish it in hard copy. If they don't, of course, users could take their digital copies to Staples or wherever and print their own hard copies. I don't think they intend to mark the authorized roads. They may just take the position that, if you leave any of the primary roads, it's your responsibility to know whether or not you are staying on a legitimate road. That's obviously a very imperfect approach, but, evidently nobody thinks it's feasible to blaze all the authorized roads. My thought is that, there's so much vandalism out there, it's hard to imagine that a marking system could be maintained without almost constant effort. It seems inevitable that you'd have yahoos out there defacing the markers and duplicating the markers on "roads" that aren't part of the legit system.
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The same happened with the BATONA trail signage. On a few of my past hikes in Wharton I came across trash along the trails plus along the streams.

Appears there is no way to completely discourage the violators from disfiguring our parks and forests. Evidence visible when hiking, biking, paddling, and driving.

p.s., the federal and state workers who service the forest roads in the George Washington & Jefferson National Forest, plus the Pennsylvania State Forests, have been addressing the same type of issues since the beginning. At least they don’t penalize the law abiding for what the lawless have been doing.
 
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Ben Ruset

Ben Ruset

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Site Administrator
Oct 12, 2004
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Monmouth County
www.benruset.com
G. Russell Juelg said:
From what I have heard, the current thinking is that a digital map for Wharton, and eventually other places, will be created, but I don't know if the state intends to publish it in hard copy. If they don't, of course, users could take their digital copies to Staples or wherever and print their own hard copies. I don't think they intend to mark the authorized roads. They may just take the position that, if you leave any of the primary roads, it's your responsibility to know whether or not you are staying on a legitimate road. That's obviously a very imperfect approach, but, evidently nobody thinks it's feasible to blaze all the authorized roads. My thought is that, there's so much vandalism out there, it's hard to imagine that a marking system could be maintained without almost constant effort. It seems inevitable that you'd have yahoos out there defacing the markers and duplicating the markers on "roads" that aren't part of the legit system.
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Not that I necessarily think that the state or whoever would do it, but if there was an app you had to install on your phone I know that a lot of people would be super concerned that they'd be spied on and have where they go tracked. So if they ever develop an app that has the map and allows you to plot your location on it via GPS the developers would need to be super up front about how people's data is used.

What would be pretty cool would be if the NJ Office of GIS could publish this map on their mapping servers, and then both myself and Boyd could integrate it into our mapping programs. Or if there's another app (I have no idea what other GPS apps there are for phones) that could load the map as a layer. Or even have the state make nice paper maps but charge for them like they charge for USGS topos. So free to use on the app or you can buy a copy.
 
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Boyd

Boyd

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Jul 31, 2004
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Ben Ruset said:
What would be pretty cool would be if the NJ Office of GIS could publish this map on their mapping servers
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They actually already have an arcGIS app of sorts...

"The Trail Tracker application, demonstrated by the Park Service during a news conference today at Allaire State Park in Monmouth County, may be downloaded to smart devices to help visitors make detailed plans tailored to trails, activities and terrain that interest them."

NJDEP - News Release 17/109 - DEP Launches Trail Tracker Smart Device Tool to Enhance Visits to State Parks and Forests

NJDEP-News Release 17/P109 - The New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry today officially launched a new smart device tool to enhance visits to state parks by helping users plan visits around the state park systems vast network of trails.
www.nj.gov

Works really well too! :D

http://www.spstrailtracker.nj.gov/

trailtracker.png
 
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ecampbell

ecampbell

Piney
Jan 2, 2003
2,889
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Boyd said:
They actually already have an arcGIS app of sorts...

"The Trail Tracker application, demonstrated by the Park Service during a news conference today at Allaire State Park in Monmouth County, may be downloaded to smart devices to help visitors make detailed plans tailored to trails, activities and terrain that interest them."

NJDEP - News Release 17/109 - DEP Launches Trail Tracker Smart Device Tool to Enhance Visits to State Parks and Forests

NJDEP-News Release 17/P109 - The New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry today officially launched a new smart device tool to enhance visits to state parks by helping users plan visits around the state park systems vast network of trails.
www.nj.gov

Works really well too! :D

http://www.spstrailtracker.nj.gov/

View attachment 17676
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This is not a map, it is aerial photography. Not useful for navigation but great for exploring.
 
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Boyd

Boyd

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Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
Also tried Edge, Firefox and Chrome on MacOS plus Edge on Windows 10. Same thing, just hangs forever and never shows a map. Were you using a phone?

[edit]Same thing with Safari on my iPhone, nothing loads. Were you using a different link than the one I posted above? This is what I used - this is the link from their press release and it is http, not https :rolleyes: however it seems to redirect to an https url, so I don't think that is the problem

http://www.spstrailtracker.nj.gov/
 
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G. Russell Juelg

Explorer
Jul 31, 2006
284
51
Burlington County
Here’s what I’m thinking, gentlemen. We’re all a bit older than we were in 2015, and, hopefully, a bit wiser. What we have in common is probably bigger than what we may disagree about. Whatever we may disagree on, it shouldn’t cause us to treat each other as enemies. Instead, let’s have some candid, good-spirited debate. We can do it here, or we can do it someplace else over a few beers. Someplace else over a few beers would be my preference, and I would buy the first round. Name the place and time, and I’ll do my best to be there.
 
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