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Critical Public Meeting for Wharton State Forest

The NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will hold a virtual public meeting to develop an access and use plan for Wharton State Forest on Tuesday, September 27th at 6:00 pm. Your feedback is critical.

September 2, 2022

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The NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will hold a virtual public meeting to develop an access and use plan for Wharton State Forest on Tuesday, September 27th at 6:00 pm.

Read the press release.

It is absolutely critical that everyone who cares about responsible recreation in Wharton State Forest and the New Jersey Pinelands shares their feedback.  We cannot overstate the importance of your participation.  

For many decades Wharton has been subjected to illegal off-road vehicle use that has destroyed natural resources and harmed the experience of other visitors. The state has not taken decisive actions to solve this problem to date, but that appears to be changing.  This new process will help move the state to take real action if we speak out.

During this public meeting the DEP will demonstrate how to take their Visitor & Vehicle Use Survey and use their interactive map.  Your feedback will help develop an access plan for Wharton.  The DEP says this plan will “clearly define designated safe and legal routes for vehicle usage, while protecting culturally and ecologically sensitive areas”.  They also say upon completion this process it “will serve as the model for the protection of other state-managed lands throughout the Pinelands.”

How do I participate?

You can register to get a link for the meeting using this link.

When you click Register (or the link under Get Involved) you will be taken to the DEP’s email sign up page.  Enter your email address and confirm it.  You will be prompted to create a password.  This allows you to adjust your preferences for email any time you wish.  But this is optional and will not prevent you from signing up.  After agreeing to the privacy policy and hitting submit you will get the following message:

Success – [Your Email] has been successfully subscribed to Wharton State Forest Visitor & Vehicle Use for New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

When you hit the Finish button you are taken to a page that will allow you to choose other informational topics.  Choose as many or as few as you like.

If you are already a subscriber to the NJ DEP email list and have Wharton State Forest as a topic there is nothing else you need to do.  You will get a message like this:

Already Subscribed
[Your Email] is already subscribed to Wharton State Forest Visitor & Vehicle Use for New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

Don’t miss this chance to answer questions about your favorite recreational activities in Wharton State Forest, such as fishing, hiking, boating and scenic driving, among others. You will be able to mark areas of importance on an interactive mapping tool which may be of personal significance or natural or historic resource importance. Public input will also be accepted by mail or email in the form of a printed or PDF copy of the survey.

To have an even bigger impact – join the Fix Our Parks Campaign – a massive grassroots effort to improve the condition of our publicly protected land throughout the state.

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