TRENTON, N.J. — For those who pass through on the Turnpike or Parkway, or who know it only as the punchline of a comic’s joke, New Jersey may seem like concrete, smokestacks and traffic roaring past exits lined with Wawas and warehouses. For others, it’s a lyric in a Springsteen song or an MTV show about the Shore. But to natives, transplants and nature lovers, the Garden State — the most densely populated in the nation — could easily be called the Wooded State.
Roughly 40% of New Jersey’s 5.6 million acres are forested, with much of that land privately owned. Now, state lawmakers want to protect those woodlands from creeping overdevelopment.
A bill (S699/A682), sponsored by Assembly members Sean Kean and Dawn Fantasia and supported by environmental groups, would establish a woodlands protection fund to acquire development easements on private forest land. The Assembly Environment Committee advanced the bill Monday.
The fund, to be operated by the state Department of Environmental Protection, would draw from federal dollars, private donations and legislative appropriations. To qualify, woodlands must be at least five contiguous acres and managed according to state statute. Landowners would not be required to open their land to the public.
“This bill does two things: it protects these natural spaces and respects property owners’ rights,” said Kean, R-Monmouth. “With owners facing pressure to sell and build, the state needs to proactively preserve these areas to safeguard these ecosystems and protect private owners from those pressures.”
About 950,000 acres of New Jersey forest are privately owned, with 40% of that land owned by people 65 and older. The rest of the state’s 1 million-plus forested acres are owned by local, state and federal governments.
Preserving forest land helps protect native species, air quality, watersheds and waterways. New Jersey’s woodlands also generate billions of dollars annually through tourism and forestry.
“This is personal for me. I live where I live because of the open space, the trees and the rural landscape,” said Fantasia, R-Sussex. “When I’m not working, I’m outdoors, and I can’t imagine northwest New Jersey without those things. I want to protect our great outdoors from overdevelopment so that future generations can experience the beauty our state has to offer.”
The Senate passed its version of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Robert Singer, R-Ocean, in March.
