Credit: (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
New Jersey Pinelands
The Department of Environmental Protection plans to hold public hearings to try to settle a long-running confrontation over the illegal use of off-road vehicles on state property in the Pinelands, the DEP’s new Commissioner, Shawn LaTourette, said.
LaTourette hopes the hearings will find a way of balancing the interests of drivers of pickup trucks and all-terrain vehicles with those of hikers, birders or anglers.
The hearings represent the latest attempt to resolve a rancorous public debate over the recreational use of the Pinelands, in which conservationists accuse off-roaders of a lawless disregard for the environment, while the drivers resist official attempts to restrict where they can roam in the vast forests of South Jersey.
N.J. Forest Fire Mostly Contained; Firefighter Still Critical By Wayne Parry | March 17, 2021
LAKEWOOD, N.J. (AP) A forest fire near the Jersey Shore that shut down the Garden State Parkway, sent neighbors fleeing and led to a firefighter’s hospitalization in critical condition was “a very, very near catastrophe,” authorities said Monday.
The fire that began Sunday afternoon in Lakewood and jumped the Parkway into Brick Township, eventually burned 167 acres, according to Greg McLaughlin, the state fire warden and chief of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
By early afternoon Monday, the fire was 75% contained, and authorities expected that percentage to increase as the day wore on. Wet weather expected in the area by Thursday should help extinguish the fire, he said.
While the interest in wildlife-oriented recreational opportunities has grown, development is encroaching on wildlife every year.
In New Jersey, the 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation found that 794,000 people hunted, fished and more than 2.4 million people participated in other recreational activities.
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The survey said that while demand continues to be strong, the overall amount of land available for the pursuit of wildlife-oriented recreation is declining. New Jersey loses about 45 square miles of wildlife habitat to development every year.
Gov. Phil Murphy and his administration have tried keep parks and wildlife management areas open during the pandemic. Ray Bukowski, assistant commissioner of Natural and Historic Resources for the Department of Environmental Protection, said that s because outdoor recreation is something that everyone can do safely and it s important to our mental health to get outside and do th