While We Were Sleeping, Very Bad Things Happened

MuckSavage

Explorer
Apr 1, 2005
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Turnersville
I currently have a site for the night at Hawkins Bridge CG. Walking from the CG to the bridge, the brown plastic whips are rampant.....
 

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Pan

Explorer
Jul 4, 2011
609
286
Arizona
It used to be so wild and free down there. I could drive anywhere I wanted to, hike anywhere I wanted, camp as long as I wanted, usually never seeing a single soul, just the sound of the whippoorwills.

1972:

The Plains. Look how low the pine forest in the Plains used to be.

Ultra lightweight backpacking. We were staying a few days. Didn't see a soul, let alone closed off roads and surveillance cameras. I still have the frame pack.
 

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Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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I currently have a site for the night at Hawkins Bridge CG. Walking from the CG to the bridge, the brown plastic whips are rampant.....
Does anyone know exactly what the whips are called? It would be interesting to add up the cost of them including the stickers plastered on them. A bollard like that is in the $35 range for each one. They must have spent thousands of dollars on them. And many of them have melted in fires or have been snapped off at the base and have been replaced. And stolen.
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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Does anyone know exactly what the whips are called? It would be interesting to add up the cost of them including the stickers plastered on them. A bollard like that is in the $35 range for each one. They must have spent thousands of dollars on them. And many of them have melted in fires or have been snapped off at the base and have been replaced. And stolen.
Update. A carsonite trail post. These are similar but not exact. Other sites have the exact ones. If they buy 300 it is over $6000 without the stickers.

 
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MuckSavage

Explorer
Apr 1, 2005
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Turnersville
I counted 8 walking from Hawkins Bridge site 5 to the bridge. Past the bridge they put up timber "guide rails" in the "parking area".
 
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svr32

New Member
Sep 1, 2015
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51
55
Hammonton, NJ
They are literally turning Wharton into some sort of theme park with all of the crowd control features. Should we expect velvet rope and posts soon to guide the general public to wait to enter points of interest? Tickets please!

I think they junk up the forest and look awful, and they continue to pop everywhere each week in a never ending way. "no horses, no bicycles, no motor vehicles, foot traffic only, monitoring cameras in use" makes me sick seeing them at every glance. In fact I get the same feeling seeing them that I feel when I see trash left out there. Many of the roads blocked are also in great condition, do not run through or invade sensitive areas and do not accumulate water or water damage. Why close all of the roads near the Carranza memorial, Hawkins turnpike just to name a few etc? I would love to know what studies were done as well as see the reason for every single road that was closed. We don't see it because, there are no studies and real reasons outside of the agenda of a few people (3) and we all know who they are.

The other thing I would like to know... in what universe is it that closing roads is the best idea for fire control and accessibility. (obviously roads work as a barrier and you cant help but notice in the attached picture) I know this is one of the no brainer points brought up over and over but it highlights the hypocrisy of it all. They went and DESTROYED Washington Turnpike and Forge/Oswego road with a 30 foot path of destruction on each side and massive tree thinning with no regard for what they are trying to protect to create a fire barrier. Once those closed roads (serving as fire barriers) grow in, they are never coming back. I would love to see studies on how closing these roads impacts fire control vs allowing the public to keep them open. What is the first thing that is done to control a fire where there is no road... they create a barrier with a fire cut so how is a 12-15 foot wide road a detriment? In addition, as I have said before, I barely see a single other person out there when you stray away from the campgrounds and typical canoe drop offs that Pinelands Adventures and the other companies use. Where is this huge problem, where is the traffic and usage data for that? Who from Trenton came down to visit and ride around to so see exactly what I am stating. No one did...they took the word of those with an agenda and crying in their ear at every single DEP meeting. I would like to see the number of people that were actually traveling what are now the closed roads... it will be minimal at best and definitely not worthy of making it a crime scene to do so.
 

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Pan

Explorer
Jul 4, 2011
609
286
Arizona
I think they junk up the forest and look awful, and they continue to pop everywhere each week in a never ending way. "no horses, no bicycles, no motor vehicles, foot traffic only, monitoring cameras in use" makes me sick seeing them at every glance. In fact I get the same feeling seeing them that I feel when I see trash left out there. Many of the roads blocked are also in great condition, do not run through or invade sensitive areas and do not accumulate water or water damage. Why close all of the roads near the Carranza memorial, Hawkins turnpike just to name a few etc? I would love to know what studies were done as well as see the reason for every single road that was closed. We don't see it because, there are no studies and real reasons outside of the agenda of a few people (3) and we all know who they are.

The other thing I would like to know... in what universe is it that closing roads is the best idea for fire control and accessibility. (obviously roads work as a barrier and you cant help but notice in the attached picture) I know this is one of the no brainer points brought up over and over but it highlights the hypocrisy of it all. They went and DESTROYED Washington Turnpike and Forge/Oswego road with a 30 foot path of destruction on each side and massive tree thinning with no regard for what they are trying to protect to create a fire barrier. Once those closed roads (serving as fire barriers) grow in, they are never coming back. I would love to see studies on how closing these roads impacts fire control vs allowing the public to keep them open. What is the first thing that is done to control a fire where there is no road... they create a barrier with a fire cut so how is a 12-15 foot wide road a detriment? In addition, as I have said before, I barely see a single other person out there when you stray away from the campgrounds and typical canoe drop offs that Pinelands Adventures and the other companies use. Where is this huge problem, where is the traffic and usage data for that? Who from Trenton came down to visit and ride around to so see exactly what I am stating. No one did...they took the word of those with an agenda and crying in their ear at every single DEP meeting. I would like to see the number of people that were actually traveling what are now the closed roads... it will be minimal at best and definitely not worthy of making it a crime scene to do so.




It still looks exactly the same in there. They probably want to pave it over and build an expanded airport and housing developments. They've wanted to do that for a long time. John McPhee wrote about it in his great 1968 book. I'm glad I knew it when McPhee and L. Herbert Gordon knew it.
 
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slingblade

Scout
Sep 15, 2016
90
139
MakePeace Lake NJ
My darkest thought (somewhat far-reaching) is that someone is looking ahead to when clean water is scarce. Then following through on Joseph Wharton's plan for reservoirs, canals, and aqueducts to provide water to the northeast.
 
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svr32

New Member
Sep 1, 2015
17
51
55
Hammonton, NJ
Does anyone know what is going on here ? They seem to be destroying more trees along bulldozed road where the fire was, after the fire was out. This is a beautiful sand road, that remained open for us to enjoy. I sure hope they arent preparing to make a new ultra-wide fire break in here like washington turnpike.

is it me or is the DEP/State doing more damage on their own? How is this destructions acceptable ... for anything ? Trees were pushed down all along the sides of the road for a good 10 feet inward and just left piled up. Even if the roads were all completely open I would still be complaining about this. Instead of bulldozing, just fix the roads !
 

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Teegate

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Others think it may have been where they repaired the deep puddles. Do you see it that way?
 

Boyd

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Jul 31, 2004
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Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
We have discussed Bulldozed Road before (and Scott made a good case that it's really "Bulldozer Road"). This thread from 2022 is interesting. Of course, "a lot of water has passed under the bridge" since then, so opinions may have changed....

As they correctly indicate, those topo maps range from about 25 years to 70 years old and no longer reflect reality on the ground. Have posted about this before, and I'm sure we could find many other examples, but here is one.

Bulldozed Road is on the USGS National Map
https://boydsmaps.com/#15.00/39.734405/-74.650742/ustopo2023/0.00/0.00

OpenStreetMap
https://boydsmaps.com/#15.00/39.732854/-74.653489/usopentopo/0.00/0.00

Clearly visible on aerial imagery
https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.732854/-74.653489/nj2020/0.00/0.00

But not on the old 24k topo, so I guess it would be closed
https://boydsmaps.com/#15.00/39.733387/-74.654245/legacy24k/0.00/0.00


That's a nice catch Boyd. But really, we all supported Ben's open letter back in 2016 (snippet below). To me, it's important the members of the forum support that letter and the contents, even if it sacrifices roads under the radar such as that one.

NJPineBarrens.com and Open Trails NJ are taking the position that:
  • We support using a USGS Topographical map to establish a baseline of roads, however the 1997 map must be used as it is last complete map of roads in Wharton State Forest.
 
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