Police Chief Warns Against Illegal Dumping In Forked River Mountains

A dumpster full of concrete. Television sets. Sawed-up fiberglass boats with the registration numbers sanded off. Tires, tires and more tires.

Those are just a sampling of what members of the Forked River Mountain Coalition and volunteers found during the non-profit group's 20th Annual Cleanup, President Kerry Jennings said.

"We've cleaned up a million pounds of garbage as of last year," Jennings said.

About 60 coalition members and volunteers from local Boy Scout troops and their parents combed through the area around the northern perimeter, west of the Garden State Parkway on April 21.

The Lacey Township Police Department provided additional patrols in the woods during the cleanup, Police Chief David A. Paprota said.

"During the cleanup, officers observed clear indication that unknown persons are regularly making their way into the Pinelands and dumping solid waste, rather than paying the fee to legally dump at the county landfill," he said.

Paprota asked area residents to be alert and call the police department at 609-693-6636 if they see suspicious vehicles with the capacity to carry solid waste entering the woods.

"The offender will be charged with the appropriate laws and most notably, their vehicle will be seized," the chief said on the police department's website. "The Lacey Township Police Department will seek forfeiture of the vehicle under New Jersey law. Offenders will be charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Help from the public in dealing with this matter is greatly appreciated."

The Forked River Mountains are actually a pair of prominent sand and gravel hills that form a ridgeline between the Cedar Creek and Forked River watersheds, according to the group's website at frmc@frmc.org.

East Mountain, the highest of the two hills, rises 184 feet above sea level. The area's extensive forests of more than 20,000 acres remain relatively undisturbed as does the network of pristine Pineland streams found flowing there.

Next year, coalition members and volunteers will gather at Wells Mills County Park in Waretown and begin searching through the southern perimeter of the tract, which is privately owned, Jennings said.