State Buying Strip Mine

[jtrash]

State buying former strip mine to build ATV park
by Tom Hester/The Star-Ledger
Friday November 23, 2007, 9:15 PM
The state is buying a 224-acre former sand and gravel strip mine in South Jersey to create an ATV park, part of an effort by the Department of Environmental Protection to stop illegal off-road vehicle and dirt bike riding in state parks and in the Pinelands.

DEP Deputy Commissioner John S. Watson said his department has spent $1.2 million in Green Acres funds to purchase the old strip mining tract in the Pinelands in Monroe, Gloucester County. Plans call for creation of a second such park in Ocean County.

"Forests, wildlife and natural areas are suffering greatly because of illegal use," Watson said, adding ATV use conflicts with other state park uses, like hiking and horseback riding, and is detrimental to the parks.

The project has the support of the Pinelands Commission and off-road advocates, but is opposed by environmentalists. Watson said the proposed Sahara Sands Inc. site is about 60 percent mined and 40 percent forest.

The DEP is also in the early stages of locating an off-road facility in Ocean County "east of the Parkway," Watson said.

Read the full story in Saturday's Star-Ledger.


i dont mean to sound ungratefull but i will believe it when i see it

[rrocke17]

It's a start.

1.2mil for 224 acres.

Seems like alot for an old mine.

[MarGinJoey]

Yeah, all those horses in the state, the numbers are growing by at least 10 every year (sarcasm is just oozing here).


MGJ

[avc8130]

Anyone know where that property is located? I wonder if people have been riding on it for years?

Sweetmans Lane, Englishtown comes up when you search for Sahara Sands in the NJDEP website.
ac

Actually, is this the place?
http://www.allterrainriders.com/forums/ind...showtopic=11594
Where there was just an Atlantic Grand Prix?

[Dale@AGP]

This is it:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll...p;z=15&om=1

Dale

[avc8130]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dale@AGP @ Nov 25 2007, 05:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

This is it:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll...p;z=15&om=1

Dale[/b]

Is that the same location that many have ridden on for years and gotten caught at?

Huge hill, had a name for it. The aerial looks familiar. Gliddens maybe? Or something like that.
ac

[jeepinjp]

This is many years of hard work but we may finally be making headway in NJ, but now more than ever we need members and we need for folks to make sure they sign up on NJOHVA there are still a lot of obstacles and there will be groups that don't want this to happen.....................We will be sending out action alerts so please take the 2 minutes and do your part, so we can continue getting legal riding areas in NJ... I also wish to thank Dale for all his hard work and perseverance in making this an almost reality......soon to be a REALITY..................

[Fordfreak&#036;]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (avc8130 @ Nov 26 2007, 12:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Is that the same location that many have ridden on for years and gotten caught at?

Huge hill, had a name for it. The aerial looks familiar. Gliddens maybe? Or something like that.
ac[/b]

Kind of hard to answer that considering most of south jersey has trails all over it. Sahara sands is located off exit 59 or 60(exit before LEH) off the parkway. It's about 2 miles EAST of the PKWY.

[flash]

This place is actually in my back yard. It is located off of Route 322 between Piney Hollow Road and route 54. They flattend the area before they abandonded the place. You can round it on a quad in about 3 to 5 minutes and most of it is water from the dredging they did.

[Fordfreak&#036;]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (flash @ Dec 9 2007, 10:06 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

This place is actually in my back yard. It is located off of Route 322 between Piney Hollow Road and route 54. They flattend the area before they abandonded the place. You can round it on a quad in about 3 to 5 minutes and most of it is water from the dredging they did.[/b]

we did a race there a few weeks ago, I only saw one water spot. So there must be more to it then what your claiming, or we're talking about 2 different places.