APRIL SAUL / Staff Photographer
Dale Freitas and his son Stephen , in Burlington. Freitas said a lack of legal ATV tracks forces riders onto public land.
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ATV bills would tighten enforcement, create riding parks
Dennis Farmer fears he will never share the thrill of riding ATVs with his 6-year-old son.
Fred Akers worries about the survival of the Pine Barrens tree frog.
As two bills related to off-highway vehicles make their way through the state Legislature, outdoor enthusiasts and environmentalists are once again at odds over ATV use in New Jersey.
The fates of the bills, one that would increase regulation of all-terrain vehicles and another that would designate three parks for their use, are intertwined after being tied together by the Senate in March. One cannot pass without approval of the other, leading to both cooperation and consternation among the two groups.
"Everyone has their own ideas on how to fix this problem," said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D., Mercer), who serves as primary sponsor on both bills. "Some feel that registration and fines, the stick, is enough. Others want the parks, the carrot, as well."
The problem, like the proposed solution, is twofold.
Riding on publicly owned land, such as state parks and refuges, is prohibited, and few privately owned tracks cater to off-highway vehicles. Statewide, only a handful of tracks and one park hold occasional ATV races.
"In New Jersey," Farmer said, "it feels like this sport is dying."
Farmer was the president of one of the last legal ATV trails, the New Jersey Off Road Vehicle Park, which operated for 10 years out of Chatsworth until its lease expired in September and was not renewed by the Pinelands Commission.
"When I was little, I used to be able to push my ATV down the drive, make a turn, drive off into the woods, and ride all day," he said. "There's no way you can do that today. Now you have to be able to load it on a trailer and take it somewhere."
Dale Freitas, president of the New Jersey Off Highway Vehicle Association, said the absence of legal tracks forced riders to take their ATVs and motorbikes onto public land.
"The solution has always been to exclude us from using the land and hope we'll go away," he said.
Responsible riders are taking their business to parks in Pennsylvania, Farmer said. But if legal places to ride were available nearby, people would flock to them instead.
"If given a choice, I think [ATV riders] would rather not be run down like criminals," he said.
However, environmentalists such as Emile DeVito, head ecologist for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, point to the devastation they say ATVs have caused.
"Entire tracts of wetlands have turned into mud pits," he said, because of erosion caused by large tires tearing through the Pine Barrens.
The Department of Environmental Protection estimates the annual cost of repairing trails and ecosystems disrupted by unauthorized off-highway vehicles at $1 million.
Authorities also point to the danger such vehicles pose to their drivers and passengers. Since 1982, there have been 75 ATV-related deaths in the state. Eighteen of those have occurred in the last four years.
Akers, executive director of the Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association, said ATV riders congregated in the woods and gravel pits near his house on the weekends.
"We have to be careful when we're pulling out of the driveway that they're not racing down the street," he said.
