ORV Management In Sensitive Areas Of Wharton

[46er]

The thousand pound gorilla in all this is the PPA. As Boyd posted, they came out with a plan back in 2011 and have now convinced the state to implement it. If they owned the land, as the NJ Conservation Foundation does, I have no issue in them doing with it as they see fit, but they don't. This is public land. Just look at their latest financial report expenses section; not hard to figure out where their real interest lies. BTW, since they are a 501c(3), this info is public; to get detailed info for the line items find their IRS 990 report, also public;

The entire financial statement link: http://www.pinelandsalliance.org/downloads/pinelandsalliance_1222.pdf



The expenses subset;

 

[Boyd]

.

As the Belushi said in Animal House "who's with me?"

The part I remember from that scene is when Otter says "I think this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part!" and Bluto replies "And we're just the guys to do it!"

 

[smoke_jumper]

Let's stop fighting with each other.

Who is fighting

 

[SuperChooch]

Lemmings.

Yes, I was kind of surprised at some of the comments on the PPA Facebook page. Things like "they were illegal roads anyway" and people implying that the roads that were closed were where a monster truck just plowed right through the virgin under brush or something. I was kind of left wondering if these people had even ever been to Wharton....

 

[Teegate]

They are armchair individuals. Many hunters are the same way. They go there for one week and return the next year. Most of the PPA members are Lemmings who would get lost in a second. My wife signed me up after talking with her sister and I really wish she had not. They got a few dollars of mine but will never get another penny. I will talk with my wife's sister also.

 

[46er]

I was kind of left wondering if these people had even ever been to Wharton....

Many of them are probably the type that Jim Jones sought out.

 

[Broke Jeep Joe]

They are armchair individuals. Many hunters are the same way. They go there for one week and return the next year. Most of the PPA members are Lemmings who would get lost in a second. My wife signed me up after talking with her sister and I really wish she had not. They got a few dollars of mine but will never get another penny. I will talk with my wife's sister also.

Same here Guy, I signed up at a tent they had set up at the pine barrens festival a loooooong time ago, the giveaway was a green tshirt with their logo on it if anyone is familiar or has a tshirt like it. I have not since and will never give them another dime. I actually remember thinking at the time that it was a good thing ..... Not so much anymore

 

[Teegate]

I had the shirt also. I mainly wore it to bed at night because I felt it was not a good idea wearing it out. But I actually did a few times.

 

[Broke Jeep Joe]

I had the shirt also. I mainly wore it to bed at night because I felt it was not a good idea wearing it out. But I actually did a few times.

Yep i wore mine to cut the grass and mostly in tbe garage until it became an oily rag! Think i still have pieces of it shoved in the tailshaft of a transmission to keep the oil from running out! Best place for it in my opinon!

 

[tsqurd]

Want to thank the powers that be here for getting the word on this out. I will be sending my state reps a note this evening & I have already forward a link to this thread to several others.

"who's with me?"

Joe- how do we join you?

 

[46er]

I had the shirt also. I mainly wore it to bed at night because I felt it was not a good idea wearing it out. But I actually did a few times.

I had signed up at one of their native plant sales, got a hat with pine tree's on it. One day the dog was sick and doing that motion they do and you know what's coming next. It was either the rug or the hat. Caught most of it though. BTW, most of the plants we bought died.

 

[Boyd]

I was a PPA member for several years but I never even got a t-shirt in exchange for the money I donated. I dropped out a few years ago after the "trail lovers" thing. But they never stopped sending me stuff in the mail and e-mail. It gets automatically moved to the junk mail folder.

 

[Broke Jeep Joe]

I was a PPA member for several years but I never even got a t-shirt in exchange for the money I donated. I dropped out a few years ago after the "trail lovers" thing. But they never stopped sending me stuff in the mail and e-mail. It gets automatically moved to the junk mail folder.

Same for me with the emails Boyd, i never told them i wanted out, never paid again but still get all the update emails, except for one important one about the road closure.... Oh wait, no one did!

 

[Tony]

I have been dirt bike. Riding in the pines for over 40 years and have always respected the sign not allowing
Motorized vehicles in specific areas of the pines. my bike is registered and tagged. but I will not abide by any
New signs restricting my travel in the pines. So they can take those sign and shoveled them.

 

[manumuskin]

I have been dirt bike. Riding in the pines for over 40 years and have always respected the sign not allowing
Motorized vehicles in specific areas of the pines. my bike is registered and tagged. but I will not abide by any
New signs restricting my travel in the pines. So they can take those sign and shoveled them.

Well Spoken.

 

[Gibby]

What roads are closed off of Quakerbridge? Is Old Lower Forge and Forge Road still open or is the river basin shut down?

 

[Broke Jeep Joe]

What roads are closed off of Quakerbridge? Is Old Lower Forge and Forge Road still open or is the river basin shut down?

As far as I've seen it is called first beach according to Horner. Basiclly it would be the first actual road u come to on your right after the tracks, you would be across the river from locks bridge. Oddly i saw tent camping there last week! Not sure if more are closed along the way, i will report later tonight

 

[WaretownMike]

Maybe registered enduros. At least there are tags that can be traced. Unregistered quads and dirt bikes will be unaffected. There is no ranger in a Cherokee that can catch them if they don't want to be caught. Besides the liability if someone was seriously hurt during a chase for simply riding on state land would open the door for lawsuits. Just like many police can't persue a car if they run unless they are deemed a hazard to the public.

I run enduros in the Pines but now I'm wondering why I went through all the troubles to register insure and plate my motorcycle. It's probably going to be riskier to ride a plated vehicle than an illegal one now.

 

[WaretownMike]

Some will argue that the 4x4 cleanup every october for the last 13 or so years has been very instrumental in keeping wharton from becoming a real eyesore. I just wonder if road closures will negatively affect the level of participation. Of course if the state can rustle up 4 or 500 volunteers and trucks to haul out the abandoned boats and fencing and the like then its no problem.

The amount of trash that gets dumped in the Pines is huge. The dumpers will continue to ignore the rules and will dump as usual. However with nobody "allowed" to go back even to clean up dumpsters full of trash, it's going to get really bad really fast.

 

[WaretownMike]

IMO, what has all happened is all good, but, and my opinion, not much if anything will change. The roads are closed, the signs posted and the powers that be are moving on with this plan. Perhaps if the momentum had remained when this first started years ago things might be different. The next telling thing will be when those that caused the damage continue doing what they've done and ignore the new rules. If the state does not prosecute them and come down hard with publication of the prosecutions, then its just another waste of our tax money and an insult to us all. Without effective enforcement, those that do damage will move on to new locations and more roads will be closed. What concerns me most is how a non-profit with a known objective that has not been shown to be approved by the majority of taxpayers, can have so much influence on the peoples property. When you look at how they are run, with over 50% of their expenses going to salaries and just a small amount to conservation, you have to wonder what is going on. It's all in black and white in their financial statement.

I found this on one of the Facebook groups which sums it up:
"The PPA claims to be non profit yet they own Pinebarrens Adventures. All those vans pulling canoe trailers all day long in wharton. All that noise, dust and wear and tear on the roads and they are up in arms about the very same thing they are doing."