New Jersey Approves Over $88 Million for Land Preservation and Parks: $44.25 Million for State Park Capital Projects, $26.3 Million for Blue Acres Buyouts
The administration of New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill announced on October 23 that the Garden State Preservation Trust (GSPT) has approved a funding package of more than $88 million for land preservation, state park capital improvements and Blue Acres flood buyouts across the state, financed by the constitutional dedication of Corporation Business Tax revenue. The trust approved the Department of Environmental Protection's recommended package at its October 21 meeting, and the package now advances to the Legislature for formal appropriation; the DEP published the detailed breakdown and nonprofit project list in an updated release on October 26.
The breakdown: $44.25 million for development and capital projects across the DEP's network of more than 800,000 acres of public lands, including 42 state parks, 11 state forests, more than 50 historic sites and 122 wildlife management areas visited by over 18 million people a year, funding camping facilities, habitat restoration, boating and fishing access, historic building stabilization and road and bridge repairs; $26.325 million for Blue Acres acquisitions, the voluntary buyout program that since 1995 has completed more than 1,250 residential buyouts across 50 municipalities, preserving approximately 440 acres of flood-prone land; $11.825 million for Green Acres state land acquisition protecting land around critical water supplies and connecting wildlife habitat; and $7.663 million for Green Acres nonprofit development projects, with five nonprofits receiving non-matching grants.
'The approval of these funds by the independent Garden State Preservation Trust delivers on Governor Sherrill's mission to protect critical water supplies, enhance natural resources, support recreational opportunities for everyone, and make New Jersey more resilient to the effects of storms and flooding,' said DEP Deputy Commissioner Joe Seebode. Nonprofit projects include $227,000 for the American Battlefield Trust to restore historic fencelines at Princeton Battlefield State Park, $3 million for the Friends of NJ School of Conservation to restore its 240-acre campus within Stokes State Forest, $2.994 million for The Nature Conservancy's Hyper Humus marsh restoration in the Paulinskill River Wildlife Management Area, $689,265 for the Washington Crossing Park Association's forest and meadow restoration, and $388,635 for the Whitesbog Preservation Trust's historic garden rehabilitation. Since 1961, the Green Acres Program has protected more than 725,000 acres of open space.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 新泽西州普林斯顿战场州立公园（资料图，本轮Green Acres非营利补助含该园历史围栏修复项目）。Famartin 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Princeton Battlefield State Park in New Jersey (file photo; this Green Acres round includes fencing restoration at the park). Photo by Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
