Irresponsible off-roaders have gone wherever they wanted in Wharton State Forest and behaved recklessly, at great cost to this fragile wilderness.
Gov. Phil Murphy’s new off-road plan would limit vehicle access to 200 miles of dirt roads in this much-abused park. Off-roaders don’t like it, but they still have their 450-mile “Trans New Jersey Trail,” a mixture of backcountry roads and unpaved forested roads extending from the state’s northernmost point at High Point State Park in Sussex County to the southernmost point at Cape May Light House. It takes them at least three days to complete.
Part of this 4x4 course is through the fragile Pinelands forests, a unique region encompassing 1.1 million acres of dense forests, rivers and wetlands that is already deeply scared by illegal off-road traffic with very little enforcement.
Every vehicle that travels through this wilderness must be “street legal”—licensed, registered, and insured in New Jersey. Unfortunately, Pinelands’ vehicle rules are often violated, causing habitat fragmentation and disruption of wildlife.
For Earth Day (April 22), I joined the New Jersey Jeep Association at Forked River Mountain in the Candace McKee Ashmen Preserve. The Jeep Association advocates for jeep owner access to backcountry roads, but they also support conservation and responsible activity. Together, we filled two dumpsters in five hours with bed frames, a mountain of discarded kitchen material, cans, and bottles, plus tires and fenders from all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). The Pinelands has been used irresponsibly as an illegal dumping ground. There is very little police presence.
We met a group from Long Island who were camping. At first when we approached them and explained we were doing a cleanup, they said, “Go ahead, not our mess.” Then we asked if they wanted to help, and they did!
We witnessed unlicensed ATVs riding with toddlers sitting on their gas tanks and no helmets. There were lots of other vehicles without license plates—motorcycles, monster trucks, and 4x4s. Once again, we saw no law enforcement! These are the violators whose actions lead to road closures and who ride off the roads and through the forest, where they destroy fragile wetlands and turn vernal ponds into muddy pits.
Under the draft Visiting Vehicle Use Map prepared by the DEP, Wharton State Forest’s network of sand roads has been redrawn to keep off-roaders out of zones that were never intended for them. The public comment period for this visiting vehicle policy ended in March, but the Pinelands Alliance warns that lobbyists for destructive and irresponsible off-roaders are attempting to undermine the efforts to protect Wharton.
Education and outreach are key components of Pinelands conservation. For thirty-four years, Stockton University has hosted the Pinelands Short Course in partnership with the NJ Pinelands Commission. It is a day of learning together, featuring presentations and tours that explore the culture, ecology, and history of the Pinelands. The next one is June 28, 2024.
I agree we need protections from illegal off-road activities to preserve the Pine Barrens’ biodiversity and natural wonders for all to explore safely and legally—not only by vehicle, but also on foot, in canoes and kayaks, on bicycles, and on horseback. We must also protect the 3,000-square-mile Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer system which underlies the Pinelands and represents such a remarkable water resource for the residents of New Jersey.
Visiting Vehicle Use Map: https://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2024/24_0001.htm
Pinelands Short Course: https://www.stockton.edu/continuing-studies/pinelandsshortcourse.html