State of the Pinelands Report

PPA's annual State of the Pinelands Report details the actions of government agencies and elected officials with regard to Pinelands protection. The report is released each year to coincide with the anniversary of the signing of the Pinelands Protection Act on June 28, 1979.

2011 State of the Pinelands Report

[+ ZOOM] 2011 State of the Pinelands Report.

2011 Actions Items

The following items from the 2011 State of the Pinelands report are issues that our friends and members can take action on to help ensure a positive outcome or help change/reverse a negative course. Click on the links below for additional background information, and how to take action. Previous State of the Pinelands reports can be found at the bottom of this page.

1 - Failure to Use Science to Improve Water Quality

Commission scientists have produced dozens of publications since 1983 detailing the harm being done to Pinelands water quality by development permitted under current rules. The Commission, however, has been unwilling to institute land-use strategies to halt or reverse these harms to water quality despite the vast body of data showing that contamination of ground and surface waters is slowly degrading Pinelands ecology, perhaps irrevocably. This is the same conclusion that the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Richard Stockton College came to in their report, Challenges for the Pinelands Regional Growth Area: Development and Redevelopment and Their Impacts on Water Quality. Despite the release in 2006 of the Commission report, White Paper on Preserving Ambient Water Quality - Policy Implications of Pinelands Commission Research Projects, the Commission has failed to take action. The White Paper was justly touted as a means to bridge the gap between science and policy, but the Commission has taken no steps to implement its recommendations, nor taken other measures to address this fundamental challenge to the success of the Pinelands program.

It's time for the Pinelands Commission to take action to reduce the decline of water quality in many Pinelands streams. The Commission has produced numerous reports documenting the problem however, very little has been done from a policy perspective to address the problem. Send a letter to the editor of your newspaper, noting that it's time for the Commission to institute land-use strategies to stop the degradation of water quality that its own scientists have documented.

Write to:

Asbury Park Press, Letters to the Editor, 3601 Highway 66, Neptune, NJ 07754 or yourviews@app.com

Burlington County Times, Letters to the Editor, 4284 Route 130, Willingboro, NJ 08046 or bctletters@phillyBurbs.com

Press of Atlantic City, Voice of the People, 11 Devins Lane, Pleasantville, NJ 08232 or letters@pressofac.com

2 - Waivers - Giving the Environment Away

DEP has proposed a new rule to authorize widespread, discretionary waivers of environmental protections for the benefit of applicants, including commercial developers, who don't want to follow the law. The rule would allow DEP to give waivers of virtually any environmental protection. This policy ensures that powerful, well-connected applicants will be given special treatment at the expense of our water, air, and forests. DEP has received extensive public comment, including a detailed critique from PPA, and has not yet taken final action to adopt the regulation. This rule, though, should not have been proposed.

The public comment period has closed on the proposed rule, but individuals can still contact Commissioner Martin at DEP and Governor Chris Christie and ask that the waiver rule not be proposed in its current form.

Please contact DEP's Commissioner Martin - http://www.state.nj.us/dep/commissioner/index.html

Please contact Governor Chris Christie - http://www.state.nj.us/governor/contact/

3 - Off Road Vehicle Park - Continued Inaction

DEP has still not designated a site for legal Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) use, and ORVs still don't have to be registered and display license plates. Illegal riding on public and private property continues to occur on a massive scale causing severe environmental damage of natural areas. Under the off-road vehicle bill (A823/S2055) passed last year, DEP must designate at least one site on state land for off-road vehicle use before the state can implement new rules that require licenses and tags for ORVs. Motorized recreation users have the opportunity to get approximately $300,000 a year from the state to use for purchasing, creating and maintaining ORV parks. Registration and tagging are needed for law enforcement officers to identify illegal riders and to contain the environmental damage from this activity on a designated site - but it all is waiting on DEP to designate a legal riding park.

Please contact DEP's Commissioner Martin - http://www.state.nj.us/dep/commissioner/index.html and ask him to take swift action in designating an appropriate site. The delay is costing the state hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in damages.

4 - NJ Dept. of Agriculture & State Soil Conservation Committee

Legislation adopted this year requires the State Soil Conservation Committee (SSCC) to create requirements for the restoration of soil that has been damaged (usually by compaction) in development activities. The standards are supposed to ensure that soils can provide the critical functions of absorbing and cleansing rainfall and provide a substrate for native species. Through several recent meetings, the staff of the SSCC has seemed more focused on making things easy for builders and local governments than ensuring the restoration of disturbed soils. PPA and the Pinelands Commission have both submitted detailed comments and proposals for standards tailored to the special conditions of Pinelands soils. The outcome remains to be decided, but the SSCC staff has so far resisted these proposals.

The proposed revisions to the Standards for Soil Erosion and Sediment Control (N.J.A.C. 2:90-1.3) will not ensure conservation and restoration of our state's soils, particularly in the Pinelands and the Barnegat Bay Watershed. Call or write to New Jersey Department of Agriculture Secretary, Mr. Douglas Fisher. Let him know that the State Soil Conservation Committee should address the concerns of the Pinelands Commission and rewrite their standards to ensure that disturbed soils will be adequately restored.

Mail: Mr. Douglas H. Fisher, Secretary of Agriculture, New Jersey Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 330, Trenton, NJ 08625, Phone: (609) 292-3976

5 - Prescribed Burn Bill

The Prescribed Burn Bill (S2169/A3935) is under consideration by the legislature. The bill makes it easier for private landowners to conduct prescribed burns by authorizing the NJ Forest Fire Service to develop and administer a program for the certification of prescribed burn managers, and providing legal protection for landowners who carry out prescribed burns that are approved by the Forest Fire Service and administered by a prescribed burn manager so long as the landowner is not negligent. The intent of the bill is to promote burning for ecological purposes and to minimize wildfires.

Contact your local elected official - http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp and ask them to support S2169/A3935/

6 - Ocean County Freeholders

Despite fifty years of science showing that the Barnegat Bay ecosystem is in a state of decline, the Freeholders seem to be in a state of denial that there are severe problems that need to be addressed. The Freeholders actively opposed all the bills aimed at restoring Barnegat Bay despite the fact that tourism is a huge part of the Shore economy.

It's time for the freeholders to get involved in being part of the solution to solving the problems of Barnegat Bay. Rutgers scientists and the Barnegat Bay Partnership have shown that water quality in the Bay is slipping and action needs to be taken Now. Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper stating that the freeholders are in a unique position to really make a difference since most of the streams that drain into the Bay originate within Ocean County. As a result, they can take a leadership role in helping to facilitate solutions to improve the Bay. In addition to sending a letter to the editor of your local paper, consider sending a letter to the Asbury Park Press, Letters to the Editor, 3601 Highway 66, Neptune, NJ 07754 or yourviews@app.com

Contact the Ocean County Freeholders

7 - Barnegat Township - Ocean Acres Denial

Last year we gave Barnegat Township a thumbs up for holding firm and not buckling under pressure to remove thirty-eight acres from the Ocean Acres conservation zone so that one-hundred and thirty-five home could be built - all without support from the Pinelands Commission. So far, the Township has remained steadfast in refusing to reverse itself despite a lawsuit filed by the developer.

PPA urges Barnegat reisidents to contact Barnegat Mayor Jeffrey Melchiondo and voice your support for the governing body's refusal to remove the 38 acres from the Ocean Acres conservation zone. Ask them to resist the pressure that a developer is placing on them to give in, or to give up their lawsuit.

Contact Information:

Mayor Jeffrey Melchiondo, Barnegat Township, 900 West Bay Avenue, Barnegat, NJ 08005

Phone: 609 698-0080, Email: jmelchiondo@barnegat.net

Contact Theresa Lettman at 609 859-8860 x 22 or theresa@pinelandsalliance.org to learn more about the actions that you can take to help PPA address these issues.

Click on the links below to read some recent coverage of the State of the Pinelands Report:

Burlington County Times

Burlington County Times Editorial(an enthusiastic endorsement of PPA's work!)

Asbury Park Press editorial ("Withdraw DEP rules to expand waivers")

Courier Post

92.7 WOBM

Previous Reports

2010 State of the Pinelands Report

2009 State of the Pinelands Report

2008 State of the Pinelands Report

2007 State of the Pinelands Report