• Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Northumberland OHV park 1st public meeting

Irongrave

Irongrave

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Erie, PA
For all of those interested Tues the 27th will be the first Public meeting of the new Northumberland County OHV / multi-use Park.

The Meeting is at 6:00pm. Lacation is the Shamokin Area High School Auditorium.

We need a good showing of interested persons. This means everyone that reads this and can make the drive. We expect frim resistance from a few very vocal groups. We need to make sure that we get as many persons to the meeting that are not locals. Locals we need you there as well!

The largest misconception is that the area will only be used by the same type of people they notice now. The drunks, litter bugs, drug trafficing, and other "undesirables." Most people in town never notice the respectable groups that have been, or are still using the area.

I will post up more information on the meeting as I get it.

If you are in a club/group or know 5 other people that enjoy our sport, tell them.

This first public meeting will be your best opportunity to have your own input into the development of the park. The Northumberland County officials, and the design and engineering firms, will be there to hear your ideas and comments.
The goal of the project is to build what you guys/gals want and need for your motorized and non-motorized recreational activities. Having 6000+ acres of abandon strip mine land ,that has been used extensively for off-roading for the last 40 years, is a great start.
Check out Facebook and the our web page for updates and progress on the park. Please leave a comment letting us know what you think.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Northu...2542490?ref=ts

http://www.ohv.norrycopa.net/index.htm
 
If it was 2-3 hours away I would be there... but it is a 5-6 hour drive. Good luck!
 
I don't know where this area is. You should have a map on the home page for the link you posted. I can't find a map there anywhere. After a few minutes I am done looking. Good luck with your efforts.
 
I like the idea, but ALOT of local people are pretty upset that all their free off roading areas are about to be no longer free.

I am curious as to how they plan to secure this area, it's huge and there are more ways into the land then they can possibly stop. I think if the drunk idiots that trash it now, want to trash it then. They still will. It's just too big of an area to secure.
 
Captain Ruggy said:
I like the idea, but ALOT of local people are pretty upset that all their free off roading areas are about to be no longer free.

I am curious as to how they plan to secure this area, it's huge and there are more ways into the land then they can possibly stop. I think if the drunk idiots that trash it now, want to trash it then. They still will. It's just too big of an area to secure.
Click to expand...



you have a point, but does that mean we shouldn't even try to regulate it?

if we stopped even 1/10th of the drunk Aholes from screwing the place up, would that not be better then the way it is now?

and with the money the land earns as a park can be put towards further securing and cleaning of the property.

I think we have to start somewhere.
 
No, by all means try. I just know most of the area very well and I know there are literally hundreds of entry points to that land. Even more for atv's.

Just wondering where the money will be coming from to supply the kind of manpower it would take to effectively keep people off that shouldn't be there.
 
xjphil18 said:
Wouldn't that just encourage the locals to trash it even more if they have to pay for something they have been doing their whole lives?
Click to expand...

wouldn't doing nothing let them continue to trash it, and leave us about 6000 acres of land that we cant use.




How did the meeting go? any updates?
 
Like I said. The idea is good, but I am still curious as to how exactly they plan on securing the land.

There are a LOT of local people that wheel there and will continue to wheel there whether they should or not. This is a depressed area with not a whole lot of stuff going on. You try to take something away that has been free for so long and there is bound to be some trouble.

There are a lot of spots we used to like going to that we avoid now because half the time there happens to be rowdy drunks there.

If the state and local police can't keep people off the land, then how is a private company with no arresting powers? This is far too big of an area to be all fenced off. And there is no easy way to patrol it all.

From what I understood, there were alot of questions at the meeting, but not many answers.
 
Captain Ruggy said:
Like I said. The idea is good, but I am still curious as to how exactly they plan on securing the land.

There are a LOT of local people that wheel there and will continue to wheel there whether they should or not. This is a depressed area with not a whole lot of stuff going on. You try to take something away that has been free for so long and there is bound to be some trouble.

There are a lot of spots we used to like going to that we avoid now because half the time there happens to be rowdy drunks there.

If the state and local police can't keep people off the land, then how is a private company with no arresting powers? This is far too big of an area to be all fenced off. And there is no easy way to patrol it all.

From what I understood, there were alot of questions at the meeting, but not many answers.
Click to expand...

Paragon had the same problem. They did what they could to block off any of the illegal entrances into the park, but the simple fact was there were close to a dozen ways to get in there, especially for ATV's. They policed the land the best they could, but that was ALOT of ground to cover. I am sure MANY folks got into Paragon without paying.

I am not sure how this particuler land we are discussing here is being managed now, (if it is privately owned, and the Offroad park is planning on leasing it/buying it from the current owner), but if its privately owned, and you don't have permission to be on it, then your tresspassing. The offroad park may just need to put up No Tresspassing signs to let the locals know its privately owned and keep the "honest" people out....
 
I think most if not all of the land is owned by reading anthracite. You buy a permit to legally use their land for recreation. I See hundreds of people out there every weekend. I have yet to see anyone else with a permit. Most of the local cops don't care that people are trespassing. They have better things to do I guess.

There are literally hundreds of ways onto the land. Especially for atv's. A lot of the land is littered up with trash and glass and stuff like that. People go out and throw crap everywhere and don't care. There's huge parties every weekend all over the place, and honestly, if I were a security guard, I would NOT approach one of these gatherings and tell them to leave and actually expect them to go.

I don't see how it could be secured and actually be profitable. Were talking 6000 acres of coal mine land. hundreds of roads that run all over the place and criss cross each other and run near main roads. Gaining access is often as easy as driving off the macadam between a couple trees and your on a trail.
 
Most of it is county land, or land that the county is in the process of acquiring. As far as I know it won't be operated on anything privately owned. The exact boundaries of the 'park' aren't determined yet...the plans I saw have a rough border marking the "area of interest" but a lot of it is going to come down to who wants to sell what, or what they need to follow for the reclamation process.

The state/county is building the facilities and managing the land reclamation projects, and the reclamation for the most part is going to be done according to the future site plans once the master planning is finished. Basically they're going to be able to use the reclamation process to rework the land in a way best suited for the visitor center etc.

The bulk of the area in question is just south of Shamokin, on the eastern side of Rt. 125, continuing as far east as Rt. 54, and possibly some land to the west of 125 as well. If they do end up spanning both sides of 125 they like the idea of having an underpass/culvert connecting the two sides to elimiinate ATVs crossing the road. I got to tour a lot of it and check out some of the proposed campsites, and got a rough idea of how the visitor center etc. is going to be laid out. The state has already committed a ton of resources to this project and it's been fast-tracked through several grant applications...in short, there are quite a few people in the county & state governments that want to see this happen. Bit of a change, huh?
 
If it's run well it would be a good thing.

I know pretty much all of the area on both sides of 125. Been wheeling that land since I was a kid.

I would still like to know how they plan on enforcing the boundaries.
 
As I recall, Paragon's property was even larger than this, and although many folks were probably able to sneak in, I would bet as the area got better established (with real offroaders who police themselves), the problem of garbage and trespass would subside.
To the heart of it : I'm all for the idea, and plan to try to support it any way that I can.
Rich
 
Let me put out a couple of facts.

The project will be a county owned and operated facility.
At this time , Reading Anthracite has nothing to do with this project.
The 6000+ acres is larger than Paragon and is currently owned by Northumberland county.
We have the ability to secure the facility with a state of the art electronic system.

Up to date information is available on our Facebook page and our web site.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Northumberland-County-OHV-Park/141351402542490?ref=ts

http://www.ohv.norrycopa.net/index.htm
 
It's pretty complicated to try and explain. So I'll keep it simple. It starts with a system similar to the EZ Pass sysem. Then with the addition of Wi-Fi and some other components the entire park is covered with an umbrella of technology that tells us what is going on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

TheXJDrew
Royal Blue trail cleanup
Replies
0
Views
104
TheXJDrew
TheXJDrew
PacificEd
Golden Mountain Speedway & Off-Road Park
Replies
7
Views
477
PacificEd
PacificEd
Goose_XJ88
Renofest 2023 Event Information
Replies
0
Views
892
Goose_XJ88
Goose_XJ88
Carol.92124
Annual Jeep Picnic 8/5/23 at Fiesta Island, San Diego!
Replies
10
Views
942
Carol.92124
Carol.92124
M
Annual LaDee Flats OHV clean up
Replies
2
Views
2K
Grover728
G
Back
Top