Off Road Abuse of Wharton State Forest Continues
- Thread starter Jason Howell
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There are places where entry for all is forbidden in NJ....and elsewhere...such as Piping Plover nesting sites on the Jersey Shore.....but to my knowledge the ESA's in the Pinelands support careful low impact use by foot, bicycle, horse with minimal disturbance to the area.
Regarding the photo, if the driver is driving at a steady slow but forward momentum positive state, then no. Its not mudding. For me, mudding is purposefully hammering the throttle for biggest splash possible and/or churning the tires intentionally to kick up mud. Slow but steady is fine.
Looks like that jeep is pushing water pretty hard not slow and steady
Tough to tell...you get a water berm in front of the vehicle that makes it look more intense than it actually is...I would be looking for water spraying out heavily to the sides or mud being kicked up.....I think some of the PPA folks see a vehicle crossing water correctly but automatically claim its "illegal" mudding. You can Tread Lightly through deep water and even muddy/sand areas. These videos of guys hitting water at 20+ mph with huge splashes end up displacing not only water but sand making the water crossings even deepeer (not to to mention the guys that just churn away ). Any salamanders, snakes, lizards and sensitive plants get thrashed when that happens.
the Park Police have been doing a great job. I ride my motorcycle a lot in Wharton and over the pass weeks I
Have seen them patrolling and writing citations to a lot of off road vehicles. so they are doing their job. It going
To take some time to get it under control. Jason how do you know that they did not catch and write does idiots
On that video. So get a life and let the park Police do their Job. Stop bitching your annoying.
Have seen them patrolling and writing citations to a lot of off road vehicles. so they are doing their job. It going
To take some time to get it under control. Jason how do you know that they did not catch and write does idiots
On that video. So get a life and let the park Police do their Job. Stop bitching your annoying.
Agree with you on the 20 mile per hr splashing and purposefully digging ruts...cherry hill rd they say has many plants and animals is that a recent survey ?
I reported them originally as they were going through Wharton. I received the incident ID upon completion of my call and I checked back to see the result. NJ DEP informed me the drivers were issued a verbal warning. I am trying to find a way to add their own video, and one that I filmed to the evidence against them, but I haven't been able to yet. I was informed I would get a call back, I'll keep you updated. This is a lot for the average person to go through to get some enforcement done against one group of these guys.
And....I see a canoe on the trailing vehicle. So when we talk about doing damage, we have to talk about "purpose". Their purpose was to get somewhere on an existing road in order to do something traditional in the forest. So no, to me that is not mudding.
That is a picture from whyy story about wharton and the folks in the vehicles are the ppa and njcf on tour with the reporter
Is it ok? Read the article: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/...ton-state-forest-kicking-up-dust-among-locals
The caption reads "Four-Wheel-Drive trucks take on a flooded road in Wharton State Forest", seems misleading to me. Best case, there is relevant information omitted.
I am sure most are already aware, but just a little reminder that this is the mentality we are dealing with. The quote is from Mr. Horner's FB page and the discussion at the Pinelands Commission meeting. I have highlighted comments I found interesting.
"Interesting meeting tonight at the NJ Pinelands Commission. It appeared to have all the potential of a boring meeting, low attendance (one of rare evening meetings they have - should have been attended by everyone interested in the Pinelands), but it turned out just the opposite! When the Commission discussed pending issues the MAP for Wharton came up. Turns out that between the Pinelands Commission's staff, the independent research of Commissioner Prickett, who mentioned... he is not including many of the common areas like power line right of ways, (thank you, Mr. Prickett, for not only your concern, but your independent work), and the work of Jason Howell of PPA (which only included Wharton State Forest) there was discussion of over 200 sites that have been ID'd as experiencing off-road vehicle damage (in reality, this is just the tip of the iceberg, there are probably 1000's - there is probably no part of the PInelands that has not been affected by off-road vehicle use)). There was a lot of discussion among the Commissioners about how serious the issue is and the need to preserve the wetlands, the aquifer, and the uplands from further destruction. A side discussion included talk of impounding vehicles and not giving them back because the fine is paid but selling them to recoup the cost of repairs. Halleluja !!!! Exec. Director Nancy Wittenberg said this issue will continue and hopefully they can get verification of all these sites and start making recommendations about how to control the problem. After public comment, Commissioner Prickett reiterated just how serious the issue is. It sure leads one to believe that a road map is a necessary evil in order to inform the general public of what is to be protected and what can be open to vehicular traffic. There is hope out there that the organization in charge of the Pinelands is seriously going to address the problem!
PLEASE SHARE!!!"
"Interesting meeting tonight at the NJ Pinelands Commission. It appeared to have all the potential of a boring meeting, low attendance (one of rare evening meetings they have - should have been attended by everyone interested in the Pinelands), but it turned out just the opposite! When the Commission discussed pending issues the MAP for Wharton came up. Turns out that between the Pinelands Commission's staff, the independent research of Commissioner Prickett, who mentioned... he is not including many of the common areas like power line right of ways, (thank you, Mr. Prickett, for not only your concern, but your independent work), and the work of Jason Howell of PPA (which only included Wharton State Forest) there was discussion of over 200 sites that have been ID'd as experiencing off-road vehicle damage (in reality, this is just the tip of the iceberg, there are probably 1000's - there is probably no part of the PInelands that has not been affected by off-road vehicle use)). There was a lot of discussion among the Commissioners about how serious the issue is and the need to preserve the wetlands, the aquifer, and the uplands from further destruction. A side discussion included talk of impounding vehicles and not giving them back because the fine is paid but selling them to recoup the cost of repairs. Halleluja !!!! Exec. Director Nancy Wittenberg said this issue will continue and hopefully they can get verification of all these sites and start making recommendations about how to control the problem. After public comment, Commissioner Prickett reiterated just how serious the issue is. It sure leads one to believe that a road map is a necessary evil in order to inform the general public of what is to be protected and what can be open to vehicular traffic. There is hope out there that the organization in charge of the Pinelands is seriously going to address the problem!
PLEASE SHARE!!!"
That may be, but under the MAP people who visited the pines and had no intent to go "mudding" would have been shut out of many areas. The PPA advocated it often claiming that a single vehicle driving down a sand road was doing ecological damage.
Then for them to be photographed out there driving down sand roads in 4WD vehicles seems to be the height of hypocrisy.
This is the part that I don't understand-isn't the focus supposed to be on people who are illegally driving OFF the designated trails and into sensitive areas?
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