Open-space skimping assailed

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
BY ALEX NUSSBAUM
The Record, New Jersey Politics
http://www.northjersey.com/news/njpolitics/14628187.html

New Jersey needs more money to save open space, maintain its parks, and support hunting and fishing, officials and environmental activists told state legislators Monday.

At a hearing to set the Legislature's environmental agenda for the coming year, money woes were at the top of list for many speakers.

Neighboring states "are investing in their parks and they're getting our tourism dollars," Tom Gilmore, president of the New Jersey Audubon Society, told the state Environment Committee in Trenton. "If we're going to have world-class parks and keep our ecotourism dollars here, then we're going to have to invest in that."

The state faces a quarter-billion-dollar backlog in capital and maintenance projects at state parks.

The money problems can be seen around North Jersey, from a shuttered snack bar at Ringwood State Park to the promised but never opened swimming area at the Monksville Reservoir, said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the state Sierra Club. Plans for new parks at the Great Falls in Paterson and New Bridge Landing in Hackensack are stalled for lack of funding, he said.

New Jersey voters approved $200 million in borrowing in November to replenish the Garden State Preservation Trust, the state's fund for conserving open space, farms and historic sites. But that money is expected to run out by 2010.

Meanwhile, revenues from hunting and fishing licenses have been declining, Lisa Jackson, the state's environmental protection commissioner, told the committee.

That means less money for conservation officers, wildlife biologists and other services that benefit sportsmen and nature lovers alike, she said. State wildlife programs once were self-sustaining; now, about a quarter of their funding comes from general tax revenues, she added.

"I'm very worried that we must find a different way of making those programs move into the 21st century without relying on hunting and fishing fees in their entirety," Jackson said. "We need to be creative."

Conservation groups would like the state to dedicate $325 million a year -- some from annual revenues, some from borrowing -- to land acquisition, the park system and wildlife programs, said Joanna Wolaver, Audubon's policy director.

Wolaver argued that parks and open space are a boon to taxpayers, not just an expense, because they attract tourists, support jobs and preserve clean air and water "It's an investment we can't afford not to make," she said.

Governor Corzine has said revenues from his plan to raise tolls could help replenish the Garden State Trust. Another option floated by some legislators is a tax on water use, with the revenues dedicated to preserving land in watershed areas. The water fee proposal died in the last two legislative sessions for lack of support.

There are signs that tax-weary voters are getting tired of paying more, even for normally popular open-space programs, warned state Sen. Jeff Van Drew, a Cape May Democrat. Last November's referendum passed, but the vote was closer than in the past, he said.

"People are tapped out and they are taxed out and they are tired," Van Drew said.

E-mail: nussbaum@northjersey.com

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