Byram finds the space Township secures '$2M worth of open space land for $500,000'
Wednesday, October 3, 2007 Mail to a friend Printer Friendly Version
By BRUCE A. SCRUTON
bscruton@njherald.com
BYRAM — Byram Township is being held up as an example of how local, regional and state funding can be leveraged to preserve green space and has become a poster child for this year's "Keep It Green Campaign," the vote on Question No. 3 on the Nov. 6 ballot to continuing funding for state preservation efforts.
Ralph Siegel, executive director of the Garden State Preservation Trust, said the state has already invested about $2 billion in land conservation, but through local efforts and matching funds, the real dollar value is more than $3 billion.
As an example, Byram Township has purchased almost 200 acres in the township, spending about $1.9 million on the effort. Yet, actual funds from the town were just under $500,000.
"You like to look at it as you got $2 million in value for a half-million of your money," said Siegel. "We look at it that our $2 billion has grown to $3 billion with local help."
The Preservation Trust was approved by the voters in 1999 to fund $98 million per year for conservation efforts. But Siegel said the state's efforts at preserving open space date back to the early 1960s. "We have had a 50-year continuum of preservation here," said Siegel. "But what we have done since '99 is more than what was done in the previous 40 years."
Without the voters' approval in November, there will be no "new" money coming into the program, but Siegel said those projects which are already in the works will continue forward.
Byram Township is among more than 90 organizations across the state which are working towards passage of the Green Acres, Farmland, Blue Acres and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 2007. If approved, the act would allow the state Treasurer to issue bonds totaling $200 million. Of that amount, $109 is earmarked for the Green Acres program, $73 million for farmland preservation, $12 million for Blue Acres, which purchases flood-prone properties, and $6 million for historic preservation.
The Byram effort, which includes a voter-approved local Green Acres tax, has resulted in several projects in town, from a small, four-acre parcel to expand a neighborhood park, to the 57 acres which has become C.O. Johnson Park, where the news conference was held, to purchase of several significant open spaces. One space is part of a mountaintop which provides a view as far west as the Delaware Water Gap while another space is on the southern shores of Lake Mohawk, providing open space for neighboring developments.
"Byram has successfully completed acquisition of key parcels in its Open Space Plan," said Sandy Urgo, the land preservation manager for the Morris Land Conservancy, which works with the town to identify and help purchase land for preservation.
She said the aim now is to connect many of the parcels, providing greenways connecting those parklands and open spaces with community centers in the town and with the various recreational trails.
Laura Szwak, director of Garden State Greenways, part of the state Conservation Foundation, said the objective is to provide a park or trail within five minutes of any New Jersey resident's home. "Programs like this connect people to the outdoors," she said. "It provides clean air, clean water and a clean food supply."
