Renewing our commitment to protect open space

This summer, Environment New Jersey, alongside with the Keep It Green Campaign, launched an effort to convince the New Jersey Legislature and the governor to renew funding for the state’s open space preservation program, the Garden State Preservation Trust Fund (GSPT).

“The GSPT is a valuable New Jersey program and major force against overdevelopment and sprawl in the state,” said Environment New Jersey’s Dena Mottola.

The program makes funding available to preserve the state’s farmland and other open space for ecological and recreational purposes, supports the restoration of New Jersey’s historical treasures and finances the expansion of parks in all parts of the state.

Our goal was to win passage of legislation that would place a question on the fall 2007 ballot, letting voters decide whether to allocate $175 million in sales tax revenue annually for ten years, and authorize the state to bond for existing dollars to better support the needs of the GSPT.

Making the public heard

Environment New Jersey staff advocates joined forces with other advocates and citizen members of partner groups like the New Jersey Audubon Society and the Coalition for Affordable Housing and the Environmental Federation to lobby legislators at the State House and in their district offices.

We also took the campaign to the communities of New Jersey. Our summer staff of over 70 college and high school students knocked on the doors of roughly 150,000 New Jersey homes to mobilize citizens to call their local legislators and urge them to support the renewal of open space funding.

Local citizen groups in communities from Cape May to Bergen County also joined Environment New Jersey in our call for stable funding for the state’s open space preservation program. At media events across the state, local citizen leaders like Mark Distler and Ed Onorato of Save Paramus Wetlands highlighted places in their local communities threatened by development that could be lost if funding for preservation is not renewed.

Next stop, the ballot

Although the Legislature passed legislation to provide short-term funding, they did not adopt legislation that would provide stable, multiple-year support for the program before they left for their summer break in June. That short-term funding will go to the voters for approval this fall on the ballot.

Environment New Jersey urges our members to vote yes on the Ballot question that would ensure short-term funding for the Garden State Preservation Trust Fund, as we continue our work to secure long-term, stable funding for this critical program.

“When voters go to the polls in November, they should vote yes for the open space ballot question,” said Doug O’Malley, Environment New Jersey’s field director. “Voters can help us to beat back the bulldozers across New Jersey.”