NJ State Forests Closed To Hikers – Open To Loggers

All State Parks and Forests and county parks must close to the public as long as this Order remains in effect. The State Director of Emergency Management, who is the Superintendent of State Police, shall have the discretion to make additions, amendments, clarifications, exceptions and exclusions to the categories of parks subject to this Order.

Surprisingly, the move was unconditionally praised by the NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club, the nation’s oldest conservation group founded by a forest rambler and pioneer of the preservation of public lands known as John Muir.

I think Muir would have something to say about whether hiking in public forests is an “essential function” and whether such activity can be banned by government fiat (and a fiat issued with no publicly available articulated scientific basis or an ability for the public to participate in, review, object to, or appeal the unilateral fiat decision).

[Corey Robin explores these kind of issues of democracy during a pandemic:

Yet, if we cannot gather to assemble or vote, much less deliberate, in what sense can we have a democracy? How do we do politics in a pandemic, self-governance under quarantine? Is it possible to supervise the supervisors if we’re too sequestered—or sick—to vote?

[From a public health standpoint, closing State lands to hiking and outdoor exercise is a good example of what Trump rails about “the cure being worse than the disease”. COVID mortality is driven by pre-existing conditions – AKA co-morbidities. Major risk factors include high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Exercise is the best preventative measure for each of these risk factors. Restricting public outdoor exercise can only make the problem worse in terms of health risks  It is possible that the increased risks from loss of exercise could have a greater impact than the number of cases of COVID that could be prevented via closure of State lands.

There are many related public health issues. People are animals. We need exercise and nature. Depriving people of the joy and comfort and exercise in nature seems a totally misguided approach, especially at a time when the economy is collapsing, insecurity and uncertainty abound, and people are legally forced to “shelter in place”. This is a formula for disaster, as isolated individuals and stressed out families try to cope, alone, cooped up, and with little support.  Of course this will lead to more “deaths of despair”, including spouse abuse, child abuse, alcoholism, drug overdoses, and heart attacks.]

Murphy’s broadly worded Executive Order ban is based on a vague reference to risks, and expressed in the passive voice:

public interaction and gatherings have been observed in a manner that is inconsistent with and threatens to undermine the social mitigation strategies necessary to limit the spread of COVID-19, creating risks to public health …

recent instances of non-compliance with Executive Order No. 107 have continued in the State Parks and Forests despite verbal warnings and orders to disperse gatherings, ejections from the parks, and the issuance of citations by law enforcement

This vague garbage from a Governor  – who was unprepared for and slow to respond to the science and implement State pandemic plans -who constantly touts that his policy is “data driven” and from a DEP Commissioner who continuously claims that she makes decisions based on “science”.

The Order applies to “the public” for all uses, including passive recreational uses like hiking – where it is easy to practice and enforce “social distance”.

The Order is silent on the private sector. Apparently private corporations and DEP contractors and staff are not subject to the order, and may continue to conduct destructive activities, like logging.

The silence of the Order with respect to these private use and logging issues is unacceptable and revealing, as DEP Commissioner McCabe, who was involved in drafting and reviewing the Order, is fully aware of the controversies surrounded logging on NJ public lands.

Silence amounts to tacit approval, or a green light to continue current logging.

In fact, it appears that logging continues on Sparta Mountain, where we recently posted photos of destructive logging practices, including destruction of vegetation and erosion caused by widening of roads.

Our friends at NJ Forest Watch more recently have documented an ironic new problem, thus the allusion to “creative destruction” in the headline.

“Creative destruction” is a concept from economics, attributed to Joseph Schumpeter. Basically, the concept celebrates the fact that the revolutionary force of capitalism destroys existing life, while creating new forms of life.

Joni Mitchell popularized the concept in her 1970 classic “Big Yellow Taxi”:

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot

Which brings us to Sparta Mountain, where the “destruction” of logging practices has ironically “created” new life.

Our friends at NJ Forest Watch sent me this communication to DEP:

We are still awaiting your response to our previous concerns but have an important issue to report.  We need your assurance that the contractor WILL NOT return to Stand 8 to collect more of the timber during this time as we have documented amphibian egg masses in the ruts that the logging equipment has caused.  These ruts are in very close proximity ( less than 100 ft)  from the vernal pool.  These obligate species, including spotted salamander and wood frog, are mistaking the ruts for the natal pool that they are trying to reach.  The attached photos show the actual ruts on the road and how these egg masses were found there.

There is a vernal pool in the area with the access road less than 100 feet away.  This demonstrates the need for and lack of adequate buffers, as now these amphibian species have been disturbed in their normal breeding and migration patterns.   We have submitted these findings to several biologists who have confirmed they are in fact obligate species.

This is a huge environmental concern and demonstrates how the introduction of logging equipment disturbs the lifecycle of these obligate species and how they are being negatively impacted. Some egg masses were found in drier areas of the road and luckily we were able to rescue them.  Because the contractor widened the road, there has also been an increase in not only ATVs but dirt bikes and trucks driving down the old woods road.

Oh, the irony!

Of course, DEP will never admit that logging on state lands is NOT SUBJECT TO DEP REGULATIONS and that their antiquated 1994 Wetlands Forestry BMP does not protect habitat or restrict the destruction of buffers.

But will the local press report on this situation and the DEP’s regulatory failures?

We’re not optimistic.

[End Note: We’re “sheltering in place” on public lands – certainly an “essential function” – most recently in Montezuma’s Canyon in Coronado National Forest (about 40 miles east – northeast of Nogales). We find ourselves in a COVID catch-22, where US Forest Service dispersed camping regulations restrict our stay to just 14 days (which we’ve already exceeded), but the Arizona Gov.’s Executive Order prohibits non-essential travel. What to do? Leave the forest and drive on Arizona roads? Right now, Catch-22: anything I do breaks some law. Hopefully, USFS won’t follow the misguided over-reach of Gov. Murphy! I spoke with USFS District Supervisors Office to request that they exercise enforcement discretion to essentially temporarily waive the 14 day rule during COVID emergency. They refused to do so. Take a look: