The New Jersey - Keep It Green Campaign is a coalition of over 90 statewide, local and regional organizations ranging from sportsmen’s groups and environmental organizations to affordable housing and urban park advocates. Our mission is to secure a long-term stable source of funding for the acquisition of open space, farmland and historic sites as well as the capital improvement, operation, maintenance, and stewardship of state and local natural areas, parks and historic sites in New Jersey. This work is guided by the belief that every New Jersey resident deserves well-maintained, accessible neighborhood parks, wildlife areas and historic sites. Our communities rely on these areas for a high quality of life, livable neighborhoods and sustainable economies.

New Jersey has been a national leader in preserving open space, historic sites and farmland over the past decade. However, the fund that makes New Jersey that leader – the Garden State Preservation Trust – is running out of money. At the same time, our state continues to face intense development pressure, and even the parks, natural areas and historic sites that are protected have suffered due to chronic under funding, especially in urban areas. This lack of funding has resulted in a steady decline in services and maintenance, including over $200 million backlog in repairs, a reduced staff of conservation officers, closure of park facilities and lost educational opportunities.

To curb this decline, the Keep It Green Campaign is working to achieve the following two goals:

Creation of a stable source of constitutionally-dedicated funds for the acquisition, capital improvement, operation, maintenance, and stewardship of state and local natural areas, parks and historic sites in New Jersey through the renewal and strengthening of the Garden State Preservation Trust (GSPT) in 2008. The Keep It Green Campaign is calling on the State Legislature and the Governor to ensure passage of legislation to result in a November 2008 ballot referendum to renew and strengthen the Trust.

More specifically, the renewal and strengthening of the GSPT must provide funding for the State as well as matching grants for local governments and nonprofits and ensure parity for urban, suburban and rural communities across the state. In order to adequately meet the identified needs, the Trust must be funded at the following levels: $225 million a year for acquisition, $100 million year for capital projects ($36 million a year for the State and $20 million a year in matching grants for local governments), and $56 million a year for operation, maintenance and stewardship. The acquisition and capital funds could be provided by bonding an annual dedicated stream of approximately $150 million. These amounts are in addition to the $35 million a year provided by the passage of ballot question #2 in November 2006.

Increased appropriations for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Fish and Wildlife, Division Parks and Forestry and the Office of Natural Resources Restoration in the State budget. This funding is critical to ensuring adequate stewardship of the State’s open space and wildlife resources until a stable source of funding is secured.