On July 8, the state Legislature passed a resolution to provide a stable source of funding for New Jersey’s state and local parks and wildlife protected areas. Environment New Jersey, and 35 outdoor recreational, environmental and community groups including the New Jersey Audubon Society, Sierra Club, and others, worked with legislative champions Assemblyman McKeon, Assembly Speaker Roberts, Senators Kenny, Littell, Lance, and Codey, as well as New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson, to craft the legislation and ensure its passage.

The resolution, which received strong bipartisan support in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature, places a public question on the November ballot to create a stable source of funding for the improvement, construction, renovation and repair of state and local parks and other natural areas. If approved by voters, the public question would reallocate a surplus of existing, already environmentally-dedicated funds from the Corporate Business Tax, in the amount of $15 million a year through 2015 and $32 million a year thereafter. It would require no new taxes or any other revenue source to be used.

“In a state as densely populated as New Jersey, we need parks and wildlife areas to provide a haven for wildlife and for us. We need a place to play, and a place to enjoy nature away from the hustled and bustle of daily life,” said Ethan Lavine, environmental advocate for Environment New Jersey.

Parks on the decline

The resolution would reverse the trend of neglect and under-funding of New Jersey’s parks and natural areas. Both have suffered a steady decline in maintenance due to decades of underfunding by the Divisions of Fish and Wildlife and Parks and Forestry.

There is now a backlog of $250 million in overdue repairs to everything from park trails, to campgrounds, visitor centers, recreational equipment and bathroom facilities. State forest and park lands are being adversely affected by invasive species replacing native vegetation and by insect and disease outbreaks that will change their character for generations.