Illegal off-road vehicles continue to tear up N.J. forests. Advocates push for crackdown.
“It’s just gotten worse and worse and worse," said a staff biologist with one environmental group.
Illegal off-road vehicles continue to tear up N.J. forests. Advocates push for crackdown.
- Thread starter Teegate
- Start date
This is way over the top. The sky is NOT falling. Next they'll tell the media they are seeing vehicles afire and dead bodies everywhere.
This, from the article, seems backwards, but maybe it's me.
"DEP officials said State Park Police can impound or hold illegal vehicles for no less than 48 hours after the first offense. A rider must pay a $500 fee, as well as cover towing and storage fees, to retrieve the vehicle. Fees and holding time increase for additional offenses."
"DEP officials said State Park Police can impound or hold illegal vehicles for no less than 48 hours after the first offense. A rider must pay a $500 fee, as well as cover towing and storage fees, to retrieve the vehicle. Fees and holding time increase for additional offenses."
Yes this is way over the top. NJ.com must be on the PPA’s payroll. The “study” done 6 months ago was done by the PPA only in an effort to support their claims that the pines are being destroyed. It makes it seem like it’s an official study done by the state. The top picture is a pond that has been closed off and I’ve been watching it recover nicely. Some time over the summer someone blazed a trail around the railings and looks like they made one pass through it. This was nothing short of a criminal act and they likely made a hasty exit but this is far from the utter destruction that they make it sound like. A permit system or MAP would do nothing to stop individuals from doing it.
This issue gets people angry, so they’ll lead with it. Unstaffed parks and families who leave trash aren’t as outrage-inducing, but that’s the bigger issue here, statewide. Volunteers are out there pulling out huge piles of tires. If there’s a such a budget surplus why don’t we hire cleanup crews at a good wage? (Oh, I know why. Suckers like me will do it for free).
Can you PM me the location of the pond? I'd like to grab an "after" picture before too many more leaves fall. Might be helpful to show these projects work.
The only other time I’ve seen ORVs in New Jersey in 20 years of hiking is at Mount Olive, which is a reclaimed coal mining site. They were dirt bikes and they stayed on the trail. I met two side by sides and some dirt bikes when filming the Jersey Central line near Carranza, both polite as I moved off the road so they could pass. I’ve seen single dirt bikes on Tuckerton Road and on Muddy Road near Pakim Pond.
I'm tired of how dirt bikes are always blamed. Unfortunately, I've seen a few in swampy areas now and again so I can't say bikes never go there. Two wheels don't do well in these areas, that's reserved for vehicles with 3 or more wheels along with doughnuts on the roads although a bike can do them if the rider is a bit skilled.
I think it's a cultural thing. City people tend to think of ATVs and dirt bikes as "trashy" and think they know all about "people who like that stuff." Same with trucks for off-roading. So it's very easy to blame this on "rednecks" and rile up people who hardly ever visit the Pinelands.
FYI. The first picture is from 11/2015 and the second is from this past weekend of the same spot. This location was closed and hasn’t seen much illegal traffic since. It’s bouncing back nicely.
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Thanks for checking it out. Where is it?
PS: you should send it to the same reporter and give him an earful about this situation.
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And this is the same pond that was shown in the article as “damaged”
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Heard there was some out-of-date information on here contesting recent reports. Thought I could share some info that is more up to date. The barriers at this location did work for awhile, but the ATVs returned this summer. Photo from August. The picture above looks like it's from 2021
Attachments
The above picture that I posted was taken November 5th 2022.
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Still have not seen your list. We'd like to see the list of all the sites you conservation organizations are complaining to the state about, and with coordinates so we can check them out ourselves. I'll put the major ones on a map, and we'll get photos.
Sometimes the water covers things up if the water table rises. The spungs out there are generally 100% vegetated with occasionally alittle section without veg in the middle.
I don’t recall you asking me for one but I would be happy to share a location or two in your area if you want to advocate for it with DEP. We need people taking some of these spots on. This spung is in your neck of the woods, they are hunting for others.
