Off-road runs out of bounds
By ANDREW CUSHMAN
Burlington County Times
ORV might as well stand for "one repetitive vexation" in the minds of police, rangers and environmental agencies charged with protecting New Jersey's state forests and parks, and responsible off-road-vehicle riders, who say they are tired of the bad reputation shared by all but created by a few unlawful riders.
Whether the vehicles have two wheels or four, are called off-road or all-terrain, the rules are the same: Riders are not allowed to take those vehicles off roads or marked trails on land owned, managed or maintained by the state, and they may ride on private property only if they have permission from the owner.
State Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell introduced the new policy last October, saying off-road vehicles and actions taken to protect public lands were costing the state countless man hours and nearly $1 million annually.
The department, concerned about the diversion of its resources to enforcement and restoration, said about 343,000 acres of state park, forest and wilderness have been damaged as a result of the illegal activities.
The problem is particularly acute in BurlingtonCounty, where vast stretches of forests and bogs draw illegal riders like moths to a flame. Sixty-three percent of the county's total acreage is in the 1.1-million-acre Pinelands reserve and within the county's borders lie a number of large state forests, including the 26,537-acre BassRiverStateForest, the 34,725-acre BrendanT.ByrneStateForest and the 114,557-acre WhartonStateForest.
The county also is home to the state's only legalized off-road park, which is in Woodland.
While the DEP trumpets the harsher penalties it has instituted for illegal riders and touts plans for vehicle registration and creation of additional, legal off-road parks, neither environmentalists nor landowners are convinced current measures or future initiatives will curb the multiple problems associated with off-road vehicles.
Environmental disaster
"They do a tremendous amount of damage on several levels," said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the New Jersey branch of the Sierra Club, "especially in the Pinelands, where there is very soft soil. They create erosion, kill vegetation, harm wildlife habitats. It's a very harmful practice.
"Also, the type of engine (in all-terrain vehicles) is very polluting. It's an old-style, two-cycle engine, kind of like a lawnmower. The design of the engine is more than 100 years old and is very polluting. More than 25 percent of the fuel that goes into the ATVs gets sprayed out the back and it creates a tremendous amount of water pollution."
Tittel said one quart of the fuel used to power the all-terrain vehicles could pollute one million gallons of water.
"From an air-pollution standpoint, one ATV puts out more pollution than about 10 Honda Civics," Tittel said. "The bottom line is the current ATV engine is very dirty. From an environmental standpoint, off-road vehicles are a disaster."
Greg Langan, a state ranger for more than two decades, has seen it all.
"One ATV, in an hour's time in a fragile area, can destroy that area for a generation," said Langan, the regional chief ranger with the New Jersey State Park Service, which oversees eight state parks. "The other thing you have to understand is the illegal motorcycles and ATVs have an impact on everyone else using the forest. … Other legal users of the state forest are negatively impacted by the illegal use of ATVs and motorcycles."
"If you are on state lands going out to bird watch or hunt, and then here comes a dirt bike or ATV ripping down a trail with the noise and disturbance, it's a problem," said Fred Akers, Sierra Club conservation chairman. "Or, what if you are horseback riding and here comes an ATV on the same trail?"
Lt. Harry Nessler, commander of the Red Lion station of the New Jersey State Police in Southampton, also acknowledged problems.
"We get regular calls with complaints about ATV riders," Nessler said. "It's not our main business, but we get regular complaints and have to respond."
Jerry Schoenleber, a resident of Amasa Landing Road in BassRiver, has experience with illegal riders ripping through his 7-acre property.
"It borders a gravel pit area, and this past spring we observed ATVs back there, and it's pretty disturbing to see the damage they did," Schoenleber said. "It was a problem for a couple of months and we acted on it by calling the police, although, I can't say it's 100 percent resolved."
Schoenleber said the damage included tire tracks, cut trees and trees with bark skinned to mark trails.
"There's a loss of property, there's the financial aspect and you feel violated," Schoenleber said. "It's like someone breaking into your house."
According to the DEP, between May and September, on average, approximately 45 percent of work time by conservation officers is spent addressing illegal off-road-vehicle use on state lands.
Further, the annual increased enforcement costs are approximately $140,000 for the Division of Fish and Wildlife and $757,000 for the Division of Parks and Forestry, a total of nearly $900,000.
Increased enforcement
"Really, there are two groups of riders," said Emile DeVito, manager of science and stewardship for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. "There is the law-abiding group, who will go to great lengths to get insurance, to get organized and do what it takes to ride legally, and then there is another group who are absolute renegades, who will do none of that."
For those who choose to ride illegally, the DEP stiffened fines and penalties in 2002.
Then, on Aug. 28, Campbell warned violators that regulations prohibiting off-road-vehicle use on public lands would be strictly enforced.
"We have zero tolerance in dealing with illegal off-road-vehicle operators who pose an increasing threat to public safety and are causing extensive damage to protected natural resources," Campbell said. "We are actively conducting area enforcement sweeps to deter illegal operators, impounding unregistered and uninsured vehicles, and seeking maximum fines for all violators."
According to the DEP, between January and the second week of August, conservation officers and park rangers issued 484 summonses resulting in fines of up to $1,000 per violation. A total of 62 vehicles were impounded and 48 individuals were arrested and jailed, during that same time span.
The DEP also has instituted enforcement sweeps, the first of which was conducted over the Memorial Day weekend.
Conservation officers targeting illegal off-road-vehicle use on ForkedRiverMountain in OceanCounty and in the Greenwood Wildlife Management Areas, which straddle Burling-ton and Atlantic counties, resulted in 56 summonses, four criminal complaints, two municipal summonses and four vehicle impounded, according to the DEP.
In addition, Campbell said, the state is seeking legislation that would result in even tougher penalties, as well as require vehicle registration similar to that now required for boats.
At the county level, Nessler said, state police have also responded. Hesitant to delve deeply into the specifics for fear of alerting illegal riders, Nessler said several measures have been taken.
"When we get a complaint, we try to beef up patrols in the area for a period of time," Nessler said. "We are also trying to identify the people habitually riding in these illegal areas.
"Apprehending them is another thing, but we are trying to identify them. We are trying to get names and then approach those individuals. Our station area is covered with state forest and (illegal riding) occurs all the time, so it's an ongoing process."
Michael Tarsia is a longtime off-roader, member of the Blue Mountain Jeep Alliance and participant in a cleanup of the Pinelands in WhartonStateForest last weekend. Tarsia, of Philadelphia, said insufficient funding and lack of rangers also contribute to the problem.
"The amount of money being allocated for the upkeep of WhartonStateForest is poor," Tarsia said. "It's my understanding they have six rangers for more than 110,000 acres.
"Enforcement is definitely an issue here, too. If you are on an ATV in illegal areas, you should get tagged, but without the number of rangers needed to cover the area, you aren't going to stop illegal riding. The rangers just don't have the manpower. Of course, they won't say that because they are state employees, but that is also a big part of the problem."
Legal off-road parks
The New Jersey Off Road Vehicle Park in Woodland open-ed seven years ago. It is the state's lone legal park and has drawn rave reviews from those who use it and others. The park is on land leased to the organization by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.
"I understand it is a relatively successful, properly run operation with very few complaints," Campbell said. "It's established a reasonably good model for us."
Campbell said the state has committed to a goal of establishing two new areas for lawful off-road-vehicle riding by 2005.
"A subcommittee of our New Jersey Trails Council has reviewed a number of sites, five overall, and are looking at the merits of each with the hope of making a recommendation by the end of the year," Campbell said. "It's our hope that by providing more venues where riding is lawful, we'll (curtail) the amount of illegal use on parks and other public lands."
But are additional legalized off-road vehicle parks the answer?
"I think having more parks will definitely help the issue of illegal riding," said Ann Mac-Rae, who supervises the office and the emergency medical technicians at the New Jersey Off Road Vehicle Park. "It would also reduce the number of injuries to riders out on the streets and in the woods.
"There are injuries here, but we have trained EMTs on site and we also have rules and regulations that riders have to follow or they can get kicked out."
"It's difficult to say whether the (Woodland park is) helping or not because we don't know how many riders were (riding illegally) before or after (it opened)," Nessler said. "Has it alleviated the problem? No, it has not. There are still ATVs in areas they shouldn't be.
"However, I certainly think if there were more areas where they were permitted to ride, it would help."
Not everyone agrees.
"We don't support creating parks, unless along with it there is a program of registration and licensing at the point of sale, so there are no more anonymous riders," DeVito said. "This is the most critical destruction in our protected lands today and we have a very limited ability to do anything because the people breaking the law don't have license plates and are anonymous.
"In no way, not if we had two, three, 10 or 20 parks, would there be a stop to the destruction of protected lands. The establishment of parks is not going to deal with the lawless people. The lawless people are not going to spend money when they can go and ride anywhere they choose with no real risk at all. Right now, it is almost impossible to get caught. If you ride 100 times illegally, you may get caught once."
"Another big question regarding creating parks is, what is the profile of people who own ATVs?" Akers said. "It's all over the board. Some people say it's a family activity, with mom and dad taking the kids out for a ride. Those are the people who would benefit from more legal places to ride.
"But of the people who use ATVs, how many are kids who bug their parents saying, 'I want an ATV,' and then don't get supervised, don't have a trailer and don't have the property to ride? It's just, 'yahoo,' and they're off on their vehicle. Those users aren't going to the legal park. Those are the kids who get injured and ride illegally without supervision."
Akers said the New Jersey Off Road Vehicle Park is "as good as it gets," but that doesn't mean it's the answer.
"The theory that if you had a number of legal parks around the state, that it would eliminate illegal riding is very debatable," Akers said. "The issues for that to work are, one, do you want to go where there is a crowd? Two, do you want to pay? Three, do you have the capability to move your equipment around? So, do you have a trailer and can you even drive to get to the park? And those are just some of the questions."
Responsible riders
It was the last weekend in February 2000, when park rangers on an enforcement operation blitzed Murphy's Pit in Shamong, a notorious off-road-vehicle hotspot. During the sting, rangers encountered some 20 illegal riders, including one who tried to run over a ranger with his vehicle.
That incident quickly became the stereotype of the off-road community.
"You see it all the time. We definitely get a bad reputation," Tarsia said. "I think with the four-wheelers, the Jeepers and SUVers, it's about being in nature and getting the most out of the forest. Most of us follow the law. We are the horseback riders and the guys who stay on the trails and are genuinely concerned about the state lands.
"We hate to see the beer cans, the beer bottles, the cigarette packs and the general trash that litters the forest and we want to work to take care of the land."
Even Campbell acknowledged the negative stigma that hangs over the off-road community.
"There is a place for safe and lawful (ORV recreation), but the law-breakers are creating danger and a hostile climate for the many law-abiding riders," he said.
"It's a shame we are all lumped together," said Jeff Minner, 24, of Moorestown. "I've been riding for 12 years now and very rarely do I see anything positive written or reported about (off-road enthusiasts). But you know, the second someone gets hurt or someone gets caught riding illegally, or someone rips through a wetland, it's all our faults and the (off-road community) gets labeled.
"I'm tired of it and tired of getting painted with the same brush and so are a lot of other people who do the right things and ride legally."
Email:
acushman@phillyBurbs.com
November 2, 2003 6:47 AM
