By LAWRENCE HAJNA Courier-Post Staff
MONROE NJ
The state has quietly purchased a sand mine off Jackson Road, hoping to
open an off-road vehicle park and reduce damage that all-terrain
vehicles and dirt bikes are doing to ecologically sensitive land across
South Jersey.
But the plan, resulting from the state's purchase of the Sahara Sand
Inc. property five months ago, could become a major environmental
battle, pitting those who enjoy the outdoors by jumping sand moguls
against those who prefer nature as seen through a pair of binoculars.
Environmentalists argue dirt bikes and ATVs will damage an area that
mining operations inadvertently turned into relatively unique wildlife
habitats on the edge of the Pinelands National Reserve.
Moreover, they insist they won't support the plan without tougher
measures to register and issue license plates for ATVs to help law
enforcement officers catch illegal riders.
But off-road vehicle enthusiasts argue a park is desperately needed
because of a lack of places to ride legally. Without one, they say, more
riders will take to the woods and do more damage.
Tom Pannone Sr. is owner of Goodfellows Motor Sports, a Black Horse Pike
off-road vehicle dealer. He said he believes a park will relieve damage
to other state lands while cutting down on injuries and fatalities from
uncontrolled riding.
"It's a much safer environment for people to have a place to go to and
ride, rather than the renegade way," said Pannone, who alerted state
officials to the availability of the Sahara Sand property.
The Department of Environmental Protection acquired the sand mine in May
for $1.2 million, using funds from the Green Acres program.
The 213-acre property includes a large sandy area surrounding a deep
lake formed by mining operations. Pannone compares the area to dunes and
deserts of Southern California that are popular with ATV riders.
But residents have a different view. Ed Caffee, who lives on Jackson
Road, across from the sand mine's lake, worries about noise.
"I don't like the sneaky way they're doing this," the 74-year-old
retired police lieutenant said of the state's handling of the purchase.
"It's like they don't want people screaming and hollering about it."
Jay Watson, an assistant DEP commissioner, said the department will hold
public hearings once park plans are further along. But he could not
explain why the DEP did not formally announce the acquisition other than
to say "we buy a lot of land all the time and this probably didn't rise
to the level of putting out a news release."
The property encompasses forests of young pine trees, grasslands and
wetlands that likely provide habitat for pine snakes, rattlesnakes, Pine
Barrens tree frogs and grassland bird species, environmentalists say.
"This would be a great habitat restoration project," Jeff Tittel of the
New Jersey Sierra Club said of the Sahara Sand property.
He argues that attempts to control riding have backfired in California,
where ATV riders leave designated riding areas and have scarred delicate
desert habitats.
Tittel further argues that state money should not be used to fund a
private interest.
"I'm a skier," he said. "Does that mean the state should build me a ski
slope in the Highlands?"
Watson said the state is trying to make the best of a bad situation. The
DEP hopes to keep riders out of state forests, parks and wildlife
management areas.
"They're wreaking havoc on all the places we're trying to protect,"
Watson said.
Riders blaze trails through wetlands, tear up boggy areas that provide
frog breeding habitat, and chew up mats of rare plants,
environmentalists say.
The DEP initiated tougher enforcement in 2002, but Watson concedes
enforcement alone is not working. This is why the department also
launched a process to identify areas that could become regional off-road
vehicle parks, he said.
If the Monroe park clears local and state regulatory hurdles, it could
be the first in a state system of regional off-road vehicle parks.
One of the few major parks already existing in the state is the New
Jersey Off Road Vehicle Park in eastern Burlington County. The nonprofit
New Jersey Off Road Vehicle Park Inc. will lose its lease to the land in
2008.
"You'd have thousands of riders without a place to ride; they're pretty
much stuck riding illegally, I guess," the group's president, Kenny
Montanaro, said of the prospects of the park closing without a
replacement. His group hopes to manage the new park.
A decade ago, the group signed an agreement with the New Jersey
Conservation Foundation, which owns the land off Savoy Boulevard in
Woodland, to bring control to lawlessness.
Bonfires, shooting of firearms, stripping and torching of stolen cars
were common, Mantanaro said.
Things were so bad, the state Pinelands Commission bent its own rules by
allowing the park in a core preservation area, said Emile DeVito,
science and stewardship manager for the Conservation Foundation.
"It was a mess," he said.
The park now attracts ATV and dirt bike riders from all over the region,
Mantanaro said.
"They're all responsible people. It's not people just ripping it up,
drinking. It's a good family atmosphere," he said.
But the Conservation Foundation plans to hand the land over to the state
in 2008 as an addition to Brendan Byrne State Forest.
The Sahara Sand property is on the national reserve's edge, which the
state considers more compatible for an off-road vehicle park.
"Honestly, we would have preferred the park being outside the Pinelands,
but the opportunity availed itself," Watson said.
He insists riding will be focused on the disturbed areas around the
lake, and that steps will be taken to control dust and noise.
DeVito believes off-road vehicle riders need a place to call their own.
But he said environmentalists initially supported the state's regional
park concept with the understanding that the Legislature would enact
laws requiring ATV registration and related fees to support more
enforcement.
This never happened because of lobbying by companies that manufacture
and sell ATVs, he said.
"It's all illegal, but there's no way to catch anyone," DeVito said.
"When nobody can catch you or know who you are, you just keep your
helmet down and go."
Monroe Administrator Kevin Heydel said it's too early for the township
to take a position because the state has not even submitted an
application to the planning board. But he said the park could bring
economic development to the township.
Buena Vista Township Mayor Chuck Chiarello, however, fears riders will
eventually get bored of the park and will spill into woods near
residential neighborhoods in his township.
He argues the money spent on buying the sand mine could have been better
spent on enforcement.
"We already have a horrible problem with the sand mines," he said.
"Hundreds of riders come through with no enforcement of the law."
Reach Lawrence Hajna at (856) 486-2466 or lhajna@courierpostonline.com
Published: October 22. 2005 3:00AM
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