DEP Developing Forestry Reforms In Secret – Conservation Groups Playing Inside Games

DEP Managers Aggressively Defended And Support The Glassboro Clearcut

DEP Documents Reveal Private Emails And Meetings Driving “Reforms”

DEP Urged To Abandon Back Door Reforms And Stop Logging Projects

This is proof positive that DEP can not be trusted to “reform” their wildlife and forestry management programs by themselves, but that detailed prescriptive legislation is required that eliminates DEP authority and discretion to ever do this again.

Another round of DEP documents provided to me today in response to OPRA public records requests on the Glassboro Wildlife Management Area clearcut are deeply troubling. Let’s highlight the key problems:

1. Lapdogs Not Watchdogs

Documents show that Emile DeVito of NJ Conservation Foundation initially reached out to DEP Assistant Commissioner David Golden in an inappropriately friendly and deferential way in response to criticisms of local activists and experts who discovered the DEP clearcut:

This intervention by NJCF provided a heads up to DEP, gave them an opportunity to spin a false response (which DEP did), and it undermined and dampened the valid criticisms of local activist. NJCF should not be running interference for DEP in this context, i.e. egregious wetlands violations and destructive forest clearcut.

2. DEP Lies And Doubles Down

Documents show that DEP managers, including Assistant Commissioner David Golden and Assistant Director of Fish And Wildlife Lisa Barno denied that wetlands violations occurred, aggressively defended the Glassboro WMA clearcut, and did so long after the clearcut was exposed in the media and severely criticized by the public.

Here is Fish & Wildlife Assistant Director Lisa Barno’s response to Emile DeVito of NJCF (note how clearcut is “restoration” and the forested wetlands are described as “previously existing fields“):

Here is DEP Assistant Commissioner Golden’s reply to Tom Gilbert, NJCF (note the project is “habitat enhancement“ and DEP is reviewing the “potential applicability of land use permits”:

In fact, the entire DEP Fish and Wildlife and forestry programs and management chain – from the “Habitat Planner” who developed the clearcut plan, to his supervisor and Bureau Chief and Assistant Director, right up to the DEP Assistant Commissioner – all aggressively supported and defended this disaster (and very likely still do).

This is proof positive that DEP can not be trusted to “reform” their wildlife and forestry management programs by themselves, but that detailed prescriptive legislation is required that eliminates DEP authority and discretion to ever do this again.

3. DEP Co-Opts Lapdogs With  Secret Meetings

Finally, documents show that DEP Deputy Commissioner Moriarty was involved in and took the lead in responding to conservation groups.

Moriarty scheduled a March 31, 2023 meeting with Tom Gilbert of NJCF and Jacylyn Rhoads of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance (PPA) to discuss and seek feedback on DEP’s “reforms”. Check out this 3/28/23 email from Moriarty to Gilbert:

Gilbert thanks him and supports this secret “reform” process:

All of this perpetuates a longstanding lack of public involvement in DEP’s forestry and wildlife management programs and exposes the cozy relationships that blur the lines between non-governmental conservation groups (who are supposed to be watchdogs, not supplicants) and the DEP as an independent, science based, regulatory agency.

It also confirms the reality that politics and media over-rule DEP science and expert staff (in this case, the staff were just wrong, so management intervention was warranted).

4. Legislative Oversight Essential

I fired off this letter to Deputy Commissioner Moriarty – with a copy to legislators – demanding a halt to DEP secret “reforms” and to any further logging projects pending passage of legislation and adoption of DEP regulations.

I don’t expect a DEP reply, but am very interested in the response from Legislators, especially Assemblymen McKeon and Scharfenberger, both of whom asked critical questions and were misled by DEP Commissioner LaTourette.

———- Original Message ———-

From: Bill WOLFE <>

To: Sean.Moriarty@dep.nj.gov, shawn.latourette@dep.nj.gov, david.golden@dep.nj.gov, john.cecil@dep.nj.gov, senbsmith <SenBSmith@njleg.org>, sengreenstein <sengreenstein@njleg.org>, asmmckeon <asmmckeon@njleg.org>, asmScharfenberger@njleg.org, tom@njconservation.org, emile@njconservation.org, Jaclyn Rhoads <jaclyn@pinelandsalliance.org>, carleton@pinelandsalliance.org, ben.spinelli@highlands.nj.gov, Grogan, Susan [PINELANDS], Mark Lohbauer <mlohbauer@jgscgroup.com> Anjuli Ramos <anjuli.ramos@sierraclub.org>, Taylor McFarland, NJ Sierra Club, wparry@ap.org, fkummer@inquirer.com, jonhurdle@gmail.com, Robert Hennelly <rhennelly55@gmail.com>

Date: 05/02/2023 11:09 AM MST

Subject: Glassboro reforms

Dear DEP Deputy Commissioner Moriarty:

According to documents provided by the Department in response to my OPRA public records requests, you were involved in and took the lead in responding to a series on inquiries by conservation groups regarding the Department’s Glassboro WMA project.

Specifically, in a March 28, 2023 email to Tom Gilbert of NJCF, you stated:

“I’m working directly to reform our processes on these projects and would like to give you an idea of where we want to head, our response to this specific issue and get some initial/informal feedback from you directly.”

You scheduled a March 31, 2023 meeting with Mr. Gilbert of NJCF and a representative of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance to discuss this “reform of [DEP] processes on these projects”.

As you know, Commissioner LaTourette was asked specific questions about the Glassboro project and DEP’s “reform processes” during the Assembly Budget Committee’s April 24, 2023 meeting on DEP’s FY’24 budget. The Committee was exercising both Constitutional legislative oversight and budget powers.

Yet Commissioner LaTourette made no mention of the meeting and DEP “reform processes” you discussed with NJCF and PPA in response to direct questions by Legislators.  In my view, failure to disclose these reforms misled the Legislature.

As you also know, the Glassboro project, the Department’s response to that project, and the subject “reform processes” meeting all took place after over 1 year of deliberations on forestry and wildlife management policy under Senator Smith’s Forestry Task Force. The Department and hundreds of interested citizens were involved in that process. That Task Force issued Framework Recommendations for legislative consideration in January. Senator Smith publicly announced that he was drafting a bill to implement those recommendations and planned to introduce the bill in June (Source: NJ Spotlight).

Finally, as you also know, the subject “reform processes” and the meeting with NJCF and PPA involve not only ongoing legislative oversight and legislative development, but also regulatory policy development. Because reform of DEP regulations are involved, those reforms are governed by both the NJ Administrative Procedure Act and Gov. Murphy’s Executive Order #63. Yet the Department has not complied with the APA or EO 63.

On top of all that, a DEP enforcement response in pending and the Department is exercising enforcement discretion, which makes such a private meeting with interested parties highly inappropriate.

I therefore strenuously object to the Department closed door off the record meeting with private conservation groups, just as strenuously as I objected to the Department’s  solicitation of informal “feedback” from the Gloucester County representative of the NJ State Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs on the initial Glassboro clearcut plan.

I strongly urge the Department to suspend the “reform processes” you are now developing and declare a moratorium on all related forestry and wildlife habitat creation projects pending passage of Legislation to implement Senator Smith’s Task Force recommendation and adoption of DEP implementing regulations.

I look forward to your timely and favorable reply.

Yours,

Bill Wolfe