Last week, the Pinelands Commission passed a resolution designating where residents can ride their off-road vehicles in the Pinelands.
The Pinelands Commission last week took steps to mitigate off roading in Wharton State Forest by approving a resolution that designates sand roads marked on specific USGS topographical maps as being available for use by street-legal motorized vehicles. As a result, it is illegal to utilize street-legal motorized vehicles anywhere in Wharton State Forest but the specific sand roads designated by the the commission.
Additionally, it is still illegal to utilize non-street-legal motorized vehicles anywhere in the forest.
“Because of the vast area and limited funding for law enforcement, Wharton has become known throughout the Northeast United States as an area where off-road vehicle users could challenge their machines against the land with little or no repercussions,” said the Pinelands Preservation Alliance in a press release. “The passage of this resolution makes it clear that the Pinelands National Reserve was not designated to be an off-road vehicle park, but a place where proper management can allow people to co-exist along with a thriving local environment.”
“The commission’s efforts bring us a step closer to reducing unnecessary off-road vehicle damage,” said Jaclyn Rhoads, assistant executive director of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance.
Rhoads said off-roading can have many negative effects on the local ecology.
“Driving trucks through water can [result in] direct damage to waterways,” she said. She likened off-roading’s negative effects to “any time you would drive onto a grassy area after it’s been raining. It leaves streaks of mud and it tears up the vegetation in that area.”
Rhoads said the law would be enforced by the DEP’s division of parks and forestry.
“Although many areas of the Pinelands have been damaged by off-road vehicles, we have proven through our volunteer activities that areas protected from further disturbance will begin to recover when given time,” said Jason Howell, stewardship coordinator at the Pinelands Preservation Alliance. “We are now at the forefront of addressing an issue that has had severe effects on preserved land nationwide, and this resolution is just the beginning to a solution for this widespread issue.”
