N.J. needs long-term preservation funding

In his recent State of the State address, Gov. Jon Corzine announced his support for renewing New Jersey's open space preservation funding this year.

This is good news, since our state, a longtime national leader in land preservation, has run out of funds and millions of acres of farmland, forest, wetland and marsh remain unprotected.

Established in 1999, New Jersey's Garden State Preservation Trust had preserved more than 326,000 acres as of June 2008. The total is even higher now. The trust catalyzed hundreds of New Jersey towns and counties to pass their own open space taxes, creating matching funds to preserve more local lands. Garden State Preservation Trust is one of the most successful programs of its kind, saving open spaces, farmland, historical sites, parks and recreational lands in every nook and cranny of this state we're in.

In 2007, voters were asked to approve a $200 million stopgap bond issue to continue open space, farmland and historic preservation for the next fiscal year. As they always have, New Jersey voters came through and approved the short-term funding. Much of that funding was applied to the backlog of worthy preservation projects already in the pipeline. Today, the trust is depleted and New Jersey is without a plan to fund its open space programs.

In his address Gov. Corzine said, "an area of vital importance and concern is open space preservation, which has always been one of New Jersey's priorities ... and which should be addressed before June 30. It is my preferred approach that we put in place a long-term funding solution. That said ... we need, at a minimum, an interim bonding question for November's ballot to extend the financing the voters approved in 2007."

An interim measure that would see us through the next four or five years is certainly substantially better than the current alternative of no funding, but the governor is correct in noting that the preferred approach is a "longterm funding solution." Without the certainty of continuous funding, new preservation projects, which can take over a year to come to fruition, cannot be started.

Since 1961, voters have approved no fewer than 12 public questions authorizing state spending for open space preservation. Lands with high conservation value are available in every part of the state, partially due to a slumping real estate market. Land prices are likely to be at their lowest levels during the next few years, and enormous opportunities exist to expand and connect key conservation lands in urban, suburban and rural communities.

As Gov. Corzine pointed out in his address, New Jersey faces many serious economic challenges. But open space funding can be a powerful rallying point in tough times. Open space contributes to economic development, personal health and quality of life, and at the same time provides priceless ecological benefits. Now is the time to forge ahead on a permanent source for preservation funding. The state of our Garden State in the future, two, 10 or even 100 years from now, depends on it.

Please contact the governor at www.nj.gov/governor/govmail.ht ml and let him know that New Jersey needs long-term funding for land preservation this year.

Michele S. Byers

Executive Director NJ Conservation Foundation

Far Hills