It's a cultural thing. There is very little respect for the Pine Barrens and my thoughts are it is because the State of NJ just doesn't give a damn either. I have been to many other state parks and forest and national parks and have never seen misuse like we have here in NJ. You can go to any other state and read all about interesting sites and locations and you when you go to them you don't find them trashed or run over by a 4x4 along with piles of Miller Lite cans. Nothing is ever done to these people and no one keeps an eye out. We have such a divided infrastructure with Parks and Forest, Forest Fire, Park Police and the Pinelands Commmission all going in their own direction and beholding to no one from what I can see. If everything were controlled by one group, say Parks and Forest, along with having a real mission to preserve and protect, things would be different. Lots of people seem to want to squirrel away the Pine Barrens for their own uses and not share. But this leaves it remote and isolated and the larger population has little or no knowledge of the Pine Barrens. The success in other states and our national parks is due to people using and enjoying and appreciating the areas and won't stand for the riff raff destroying them. The mug heads that vandalize out there don't read any way, they just drive around aimlessly looking for something to do. When they find something that strikes their fancy they go about doing what they think is COOL and FUN with no regard to what importance or meaning it has to everyone else. For them there is no one else, it is only them. It is cultural.
That sounds like a politically correct way of blaming society and institutions for the irresponsible acts of individuals. Do those kids have parents? Do the parents give a damn? Do the parents let them use the family car to get there?
To the moon Alice!
These guys take their paintball seriously!