Murphy DEP Closes Forest And Blocks Public And Press From Viewing Logging Of Mature Highlands Forests
No Observers And No Cameras Allowed
Sparta Mountain Logging Violates Standards Of DEP’s Own Forestry Plan
The last time the DEP logged a wildlife management area – the Glassboro WMA – a local environmental group photographed it and the NJ media published those damning photos and they generated huge public outrage. Take a look:
This time, in reviving the long running controversial logging of Sparta Mountain WMA, DEP is closing the forest and prohibiting any observers from monitoring and photographing the logging. Heres’ the DEP pretext for doing that: “significant safety concerns”:
NJ Fish & Wildlife regrets having to close the area. However, during previous management activities, spectators entering the work area and disregarding posted signs created significant safety concerns that result in the current closure during the entire work period.
The DEP’s sham rationale to justify the logging has been discredited by many scientists and forest ecologists, see:
The DEP’s flawed justification for Sparta Mountain WMA logging is similar to the sham exposed by the clearcut of the Glassboro WMA: “habitat restoration”:
The purpose of the temporary closure is for a habitat restoration project that will open the forest canopy to allow for the growth of young oak and hickory trees, blackberries, sedges, and a variety of other native shrub and sapling plants. This habitat will become breeding and/or foraging habitat for numerous wildlife, including the 80 different bird species that have been observed using other sites of restored open-canopy forest on Sparta Mountain WMA.
We’ve been exposing the scientific flaws, regulatory gaps, and special interests pushing this DEP logging for many years, see:
In addition to all that, Silvia Solaun of NJ Forest watch notes that the logging violates DEP’s own forest management plan, which requires frozen ground to limit erosion and other adverse impacts to natural resources and water quality. Silvia wrote:
Dear Senator Bob Smith, Senator Linda Greenstein, and Mr. Gurrentz,
This announcement was just made yesterday despite the fact we have had significant rainfall and the ground is not frozen. The FSP’s specially state that work must be done when ground is frozen but as usual, the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife are ignoring their own best management practices. This is just another example of bad FSP’s and continual ignorance of true ecological management of public lands that we taxpayers paid to protect from development.
Now our our “NJ government” is destroying the public forests we paid to protect under the Highlands Act. This is unacceptable!
In fact, the ground is so soft that heavy logging equipment will surely cause significant damage to Highlands soils and the forest ecosystem services that our forests provide. The area is also in a steep slope severely constrained area with Indigenous Archaeological significance.
Please contact the NJDEP and the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife, Sharon Petzinger and others, and state that logging should not occur in the Highlands Forests. Below is the bulletin.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us above.
Thank you,
Silvia Solaun
Executive Director of NJ Forest Watch
In addition to the Senators, I urge people to contact DEP Commissioner LaTourette immediately and demand that he stop this logging and assure that DEP complies with the conditions of its own forest management plan. Hurry, logging starts on February 1!