Credit: (AP Photo/Wayne Parry) New Jersey Pinelands The Department of Environmental Protection plans to hold public hearings to try to settle a long-running confrontation over the illegal use of off-road vehicles on state property in the Pinelands, the DEP’s new Commissioner, Shawn LaTourette, said. LaTourette hopes the hearings will find a way of balancing the interests of drivers of pickup trucks and all-terrain vehicles with those of hikers, birders or anglers. The hearings represent the latest attempt to resolve a rancorous public debate over the recreational use of the Pinelands, in which conservationists accuse off-roaders of a lawless disregard for the environment, while the drivers resist official attempts to restrict where they can roam in the vast forests of South Jersey.