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[jeepinjp]

Off-road vehicle riders sound off on park closure

Pinelands group gets hundreds of letters decrying plan
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/10/07
BY KIRK MOORE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU

PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP — Hundreds of off-road vehicle riders have written letters to the state Pinelands Commission, expressing their worries over next year's closing of the New Jersey Off-Road Vehicle Park and predicting it will only worsen problems with illegal riding.

"Their concern is the facility in Woodland Township . . . is due to close in 2008," commission Executive Director John Stokes told Pinelands commissioners at their monthly meeting here Friday.

Located off Route 72 near Chatsworth village, the vehicle park opened in 1998 under an unusual agreement between the nonprofit New Jersey Conservation Foundation, which owns the property, and state environmental officials, Stokes said.

"The thought was using it for ATV (all-terrain vehicle) use would allow the property to be restored over time," Stokes said. In partnership with off-road park volunteers, the foundation has managed the riding tracks while replanting trees on the tract too.

The 10-year agreement expires next year. Meanwhile, riders say the state is far behind schedule in its pledge to open two off-road parks, a goal that former state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell had set for 2005.

Pinelands mayors earlier this week heard John Watson, an assistant DEP commissioner, ask for their support in creating a new off-road park at a former sand mine in Monroe, Gloucester County.

At the suggestion of off-road riding activists who met with the mine owners, the DEP purchased the 225-acre property for $1.2 million. The agency is now conducting environmental surveys on the tract.

The Sierra Club is opposed to the park proposal "because it's a diversion. . . . It's using public money for a private interest," Jeff Tittel, director of the club's New Jersey chapter, said Friday.

"If I'm a downhill skier, does that mean the state should be buying slopes?" Tittel said. "We will go to court to prevent that."

Watson clearly tied completion of the project with getting changes to state law that would require vehicle registration and stiffer penalties for illegal riding, said Fred Akers of the Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association.

The law is needed, Akers said, because "there is a pretty broad consensus (among environmental groups) that the creation of a legal park will not curb illegal use."

Campbell explicitly banned unregistered motor vehicles from state lands in 2002. Riders can use private property in the Pinelands, if they carry written permission from the landowner. But riders say there are very few opportunities for that, and say a public park is a necessary outlet for the sport.

State officials estimate there are around 200,000 off-road vehicles in New Jersey, according to Watson.

"Every year we catch a couple of them, and they end up paying restitution," said Harry S. Monesson, a Pemberton farmer who said his blueberry fields suffer damage from motorized trespassers. "We had over 30 bushes smashed, completely destroyed."

Monesson, a longtime critic of Pinelands regulations, contended that as the state has acquired more acres in the Pinelands, "the more that land is used as an access onto private property." Some public land should revert to private ownership, he said, "with responsible people out there who have a vested interest to protect that property."

"It will be in your future that you'll be deciding the placement of an ATV park in the Pinelands," Akers told the commissioners. He recommended they visit the park near Chatsworth "'to see what an ATV park looks like."

[superchicken]

''The Sierra Club is opposed to the park proposal "because it's a diversion. . . . It's using public money for a private interest," Jeff Tittel, director of the club's New Jersey chapter, said Friday.

"If I'm a downhill skier, does that mean the state should be buying slopes?" Tittel said. "We will go to court to prevent that."


ok,what about the millions spent on walking trails in NJ...There a private group..I dont use them,so should I protest?There hippocrites 100%

[MudHole]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (superchicken @ Mar 13 2007, 11:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Ok,what about the millions spent on walking trails in NJ...There a private group..I dont use them,so should I protest?There hippocrites 100% [/b]

Because the walking trails are mainly for the use of people who live developments which is in turn leans towards this states best interest more developments means more tax dollars. So they will pander to these, mostly whining city transplants, so they will get more tax dollars. Everywhere I have right near my house to ride is right behind developments.

I blame everything on these transplants, before the developments were all over the place I could ride and hunt where ever I wanted and no one complained.

I say we run them out like pirates, rape and pillage, then burn. Then we will plant some cute little trees so the sierra club will be happy. Then the deer will have somewhere to go so they won't be out in the street getting hit by cars, making my insurance continue to go up. And we won't need to make every friggin road twice as wide so when all these transplants can get home from the city where they still work. Burning twice as fuel making the price of gas go through the roof. you can't enjoy a ride on your streetbike because one of these jackass's will run you over because they are half asleep from their two hour one way trip to work after a 12 hour day so they can afford these monstrosities they live in and pay 10,000 a year in taxes to live in, which forces my taxes to go up because they complain that they pay to much but a normal home owner only pays half of that with twice as much property. Now the township needs to build another school, and that means more school buses. We have 95 police officers here so they can control the transplants when they have to go to the big ass Walmart they needed to build right next to the K-mart which is right next to the Target with the Rite-aid out front because they didn't want to drive to the CVS thats over by the Super WAWA , or the Walgreens thats just a pain in the ass to get in and out because of all the people coming out of the Shop-rite and Acme parking lots.

So you want to know why you can't ride anywhere in NJ, Go drive through one of your many local developments. Its all their fault.

[jeepinjp]

Well said both of you.....But public $$ does fund many different recreational activities such as golf(county golf courses) water skiing ,swimming,fishing (county/state parks) and oh yes...skiing I know of one in bergen county.... and many miles of hiking and bicycling trails in many state parks....Remember Green Acres ....no not wilbur... recreation and open space

Mr. Akers and Mr. Tittel are just exclusionists... and anti motorized recreation..

[superchicken]

now Mudhole,How do you really feel?

[MudHole]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (superchicken @ Mar 13 2007, 07:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

now Mudhole,How do you really feel? [/b]

It just hit a nerve, I forgot my pill this morning and, well...... you know.

First the kid crashes my bike then I drive to Balt. to look at a POS, Then I won a XR400 on Flea-bay and the guy e-mails me and say he wont give it to me for the price it went for.

[superchicken]

report him to ebay..

[jeepinjp]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MudHole @ Mar 13 2007, 08:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (superchicken @ Mar 13 2007, 07:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

now Mudhole,How do you really feel? [/b]

It just hit a nerve, I forgot my pill this morning and, well...... you know.

First the kid crashes my bike then I drive to Balt. to look at a POS, Then I won a XR400 on Flea-bay and the guy e-mails me and say he wont give it to me for the price it went for.
[/b][/quote]


Quite understandable...Hope today is a better day