Editorial: Off-roaders in the Pinelands/Destruction Continues

We've written quite a few editorials over the years condemning the destruction in the Pine Barrens and other natural areas caused by people riding all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes and other off-road vehicles.

Yet the destruction caused by this illegal riding continues unabated.

These off-road riders don't care what we think. The don't care what you think. They don't care that they are breaking the law. They don't care that they are destroying state parks and forests, leaving behind rutted trails, crushed vegetation and ruined plant and animal habitat, not to mention garbage and the remains of illegal - and dangerous - bonfires.

In fact, they claim they have some kind of "right" to do this because New Jersey collects registration fees from them for some off-road vehicles yet provides no legal place to ride them.

Somehow, this bizarre argument holds sway with the Legislature. In January, in lame-duck session, lawmakers passed and former Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed, a weak bill that increased penalties for illegal riding and required ATV riders to display a numbered registration decal or license plate - but delayed those new requirements until the state Department of Environmental Protection finds and designates state-owned land that would be open to off-road vehicles.

Finding such sites in crowded New Jersey has proved impossible so far - and so the illegal, destructive riding continues. Few riders are ticketed - the DEP has neither the money nor the manpower to properly patrol the parks.

Nature photographer Albert Horner recently visited a Pinelands clearing popular with off-roaders in Wharton State Forest. He found piles of garbage, the remains of bonfires and deep wallows carved out by off-road trucks. "It is one of the foulest places I have ever visited" in the Pinelands, Horner wrote on his blog.

Frankly, we find this whole issue somewhat incredible. The fact that there is just about no place in New Jersey to legally ride off road always seemed to us to be a good reason for not buying an ATV in the first place. The state has no obligation to provide you with a place to play with your off-road toy.

There are sand trails through the Pine Barrens that are legal to drive on, and some enthusiasts use these trails responsibly. "Stay on the trail or stay home" is one group's motto. Good for them.

But irresponsible off-roaders seem to far outnumber the responsible riders, and the state has coddled these outlaws long enough. The Legislature should revisit the bill approved in January and come up with something far tougher.

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Source: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/editorials/article_f2e1f3ac-ba85-11df-94d2-001cc4c002e0.html

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