In This Issue - ANJEC-Association of New Jersey … · · 2008-02-05“How can I save a...

REPORTSUMMER 2002

In This Issue:3568

1113141517

Time for Tax Reform

Reducing Road Glare

The Master Plan Vision Statement

Open Space Preservation:The Job That’s Never Done

Smart Growth Updates

Book Reviews

Good Earthkeeping

ANJEC in the City

Resource Center

2 ANJEC REPORT - SUMMER 2002

Executive Director ............................................................. Sandy BattyEditor ..................................................................................... Sally Dudley

The Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions is a private,non-profit educational organization serving environmental commission andopen space committee members, concerned individuals, non-profits, andlocal officials. ANJEC’s programs aim to promote the public interest innatural resource preservation, sustainable development and reclamationand support environmental commissions and open space committeesworking with citizens and other non-profit organizations.

The REPORT welcomes articles and photographs but is not responsible forloss or damage. Opinions expressed by guest authors do not necessarilyreflect ANJEC policy. Articles may be reprinted with permission and credit.Please address correspondence to ANJEC REPORT, PO Box 157,Mendham, NJ 07945; tel: 973-539-7547; toll-free number for members:888-55ANJEC (888-552-6532); fax: 973-539-7713. E-mail [email protected]: www.anjec.org.

566 MUNICIPALITIES .............................. ONE ENVIRONMENT

Vol. 22 / No. 3 Summer 2002

Library Subscription $15.00ISSN 1538-0742

REPORT

Executive Director

Director’s ReportIn carrying out their responsi-

bilities, environmental commis-sions often need to focus onprotecting a specific resource.

Many of the questions that ANJEC receives start with“How can I save a forest?” … Or a lake? A shoreline? Astream?

Our new manual Acting Locally: Municipal Tools forEnvironmental Protection, brings together the broadspectrum of information ANJEC uses to answer thesekinds of questions. It gives background on the resource– why it is significant, what are the threats - so that thereader can understand why its protection is critical andcan explain this to other officials in town. Each chapteroffers specific suggestions on how to protect theresource and a list of contacts for additional informa-tion. The measures we suggest are gleaned from thesuccessful actions and creative solutions of townsacross New Jersey. They include data collection,ordinances, development standards, funding sources,public education and more.

The title of the book comes from the familiar slogan,“Think globally, act locally.” The central principle isthat local action is crucial in preservation of ourenvironmental resources. Many people believe thatfederal and state laws and regulations provide all theenvironmental protection we need, but this is not thecase. Too many state and federal laws don’t go farenough to preserve vital resources that are the founda-tion of important ecosystems. For example, these lawsdo not safeguard groundwater recharge areas, prohibitdestruction of steep slopes, or forbid indiscriminatecutting of trees. Nor do they limit nutrient loading intolakes or streams. And they only provide partial protec-tion for critical resources like wetlands, floodplains anddrinking water sources.

Every town in New Jersey has the ability to preservethe natural resources within its borders. Municipalitiescan accomplish a great deal using planning and theland use controls delegated to them under the Munici-pal Land Use Law. Because the zoning ordinanceoutlines what is permitted in each area of the commu-nity and sets the density of development, it can protectenvironmentally sensitive areas.

The governing body can also enact additionalordinances to set standards for development, forexample, to require tree preservation during construc-tion or restoration of disturbed lands. It can adopt astormwater management plan to control flooding,reduce soil erosion and curtail non point sourcepollution.

Towns also can use their administrative powers tomake environmentally wise decisions in purchasing andsupervising the department of public works. They canmaintain town-owned properties to protect their criticalenvironmental features from the destructive impacts ofdevelopment.

The environmental commission has the responsibilityto make recommendations regarding the local actions ofits governing body, planning board, board of adjust-ment and board of health. A commission is the onlybody on the local level whose mission is to defend thenatural systems – the threatened and endangeredspecies, the air and water supply, the animals and plantsthat add richness to the community. The commission’sjob is to make sure the environment doesn’t get over-looked in the municipal decision-making process.

Each chapter of Acting Locally covers a natural re-source that needs protection, such as trees, groundwa-ter, lakes, air, estuaries and steep slopes. It will take theconcerted action of all levels of government to ensureprotection of these assets.

ANJEC continues to add to its collection of ordinancesand standards. We hope you will share with us theactions your town takes in its efforts to safeguard theenvironment so that we can continue to build ourinformation base for the municipalities of New Jersey.

Copies of Acting Locally have been sent to all memberenvironmental commissions. Additional copies areavailable for $10 plus postage and handling.

Cover Photo: A Pinelands Preservation Alliance canoe tripon the Batsto River in Burlington County by photographerMichael Hogan

ANJEC REPORT - SUMMER 2002 3PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER

Time for Tax ReformBy Jon Shure, President, NJ Policy Perspective

A Bergen County seniorcitizen recently asked me a frustratingquestion. She was upset because herstreet was being overrun with trafficfrom a nearby shopping mall. Shewanted to know to whom she couldcomplain.

My answer was as frustrating as herquestion. “No one,” I told her. That’sbecause she lives in Rochelle Park andthe mall is in Paramus. Showing up ata Rochelle Park council meeting tocomplain about traffic from Paramuswas going to be as useful as a screendoor on a submarine. Complaining inParamus, as a non-resident, wouldn’tdo any better. Because of the way wedo things in New Jersey, this womanwas pretty much powerless.

Do these forces really have to bebeyond the control of residents andlocal officials? Of course not. Butsaying that and changing the systemare two different things. The adage,“easier said than done” comes tomind.

And like so many other problems, aprimary culprit in this case is ourstate’s notorious over-reliance onlocal property taxes to fund such alarge share of the costs for schoolsand municipal services. No state reliesmore than New Jersey on this form oftaxation. Every other state fundsschools and local services to agreater extent through some othermeans. Usually it is a broad-basedstate tax, like that on income orsales.

NJ Out of BalanceNew Jersey, of course, has those

taxes too. But our system is out ofbalance. Picture a three-leggedstool. One leg is the local propertytax, one the state sales tax and thethird the state income tax. Expertssay an ideal system uses thesethree levies in roughly equal

proportion. Now picture a strangestool, where one leg is twice as longas the other two. That’s the NewJersey stool: we take in about as muchfrom local property taxes as from thestate income and sales tax combined.A stool like that will hardly supportyou.

One problem, recognized over theyears by the courts in our state, isthat this over-dependence on prop-erty taxes has serious consequencesfor education. All too often theopportunity a child gets correlatesdirectly to the property values in hisor her town. Another problem is theunevenness of the tax burden. Whenyou put together the “big three” taxes(sales, income, property) it turns outthat in New Jersey the lower youroverall income, the higher percentageof that income goes toward taxes.

Such a system might have madesome sense back in colonial days,when only a relative handful ofpeople owned a house and some land.Taxing property was a fairly effectiveway of taxing based on the ability topay. Today it is far harder to defend.Just about everyone knows someonelike my mother-in-law who gets by onabout $20,000 a year and pays $5,000in property taxes—a whopping 25percent of her income. Clearly such a

tax is all out of whack as it relates toher ability to pay.

The bottom line is that the center-piece of New Jersey’s tax structure is acreaky, outmoded relic of the 18th

century. We keep it even though theresult is a tax burden that takes ahigher percentage of a lower- ormiddle-income family’s earnings ornet worth than it takes from thewealthiest.

Taxes and SprawlAnd as more and more people are

starting to realize, over-reliance onlocal property taxes has a directimpact on the sprawl that eats awayat open space and the increasedcongestion, pollution and stress thatfollow in its wake.

Mayors and council members inNew Jersey are hard-pressed to avoidbeing tools of developers. Someonecomes in and wants to build an officepark or shopping mall or housingdevelopment, and even local officialswho know better can’t help seeingdollar signs. More ratables meanpaying for local services will beshared with the newcomers.

But the ratable-chase is a fantasy.The new construction doesn’t keeptaxes down because it means more

roads, police and fire protection,schools. And so what you have is adog chasing its tail.

With an arms-race mentalityrivaling that of the US and USSR inthe Cold War, towns competeagainst each other to turn emptytracts into profit centers. Theyeven tell developers they won’thave to pay property taxes for aperiod of years in exchange forgracing the municipality with theirpresence. And they try to mitigatethe impact on local residents byplacing car-intensive new develop-ment on the edge of town: we get


the ratable, they get the traffic. Sharethe tax revenue? Not in New Jersey.

It doesn’t seem like a stretch toimagine that if local officials were lessbeholden to property taxes they mightbe less hospitable to development.

An Opportunity for ChangeThere is no shortage of people in

New Jersey who abhor sprawl. Andmany are starting to realize that justwanting it stopped can’t stop it. Usingtax dollars to buy up open space is agood concept, but it doesn’t comecheap. Fighting developers in courtsometimes works but it takes a longtime—and it doesn’t come cheap either.This is one reason why more people aredetermined to get at the root of theproblem. They are seeing the need toget New Jersey off the property tax fixand into a healthier, more sustainableway to raise revenues.

And in this effort, the people appearto be ahead of the politicians. Theyknow that solving this problem willmean shifting the tax structure, mostlikely by increasing broad-based leviesand decreasing property taxes. Forexample, suppose New Jersey raised theincome tax for married householdswith incomes over $150,000 andsingles over $75,000 and imposed aone-quarter of one percent financialassets tax on intangible holdings (forexample stocks, bonds, trusts andbusiness equity) exceeding $2 million.These two steps would allow NewJersey to reduce local property taxesdramatically. The state would raisemore money and towns would have toraise less.

Politicians, for the most part, wantno part of such an arrangement. Theyknow that even if state taxes go up foronly five percent of New Jerseyans andproperty taxes come down for every-one, their next election opponent willattack them for raising taxes. Whatthey don’t know—or aren’t willing to tryto find out—is that the people of NewJersey have had enough of the currentupside-down and backwards systemand are ready to listen to someone whowill talk sense on taxes.

Grassroots groups have sprung up,calling for some of the very changesthat the people we elect won’t talkabout. Citizens for the Public Good, abipartisan policy reform organization,helped bring many of these groups

together in May to express theirsupport for a constitutional conventionto revamp our tax structure. This hasbeen, in large measure, an attempt towrest away from politicians theresponsibility they refuse to exert. Inshort, people are beginning to get itthat everything is connected to every-thing else. Education, garbage removal,traffic congestion, pollution—just aboutany issue that touches on the quality oflife of New Jerseyans has at its core asolution that takes us back to NewJersey’s way of raising money.

People who live here know that inmany ways ours is a quirky little state.We have no network TV affiliatestation. The Governor is the onlyelected state official. Workers have thelongest commute in the nation.Though it’s ninth in overall popula-tion, New Jersey has so many govern-

mental pieces that the average municipalpopulation of 12,000 is the lowest in theUS. It’s one of two states where pumpingyour own gas is a crime. All of thesethings help to determine the culture, thecharacter of who we are.

But clinging to an obsolete tax struc-ture goes beyond quirky. It’s counter-productive. It holds us back and keeps itapart.

The flaw in our tax structure keepsNew Jersey from being the fully function-ing state and, even more, the communityit can be. We’ve gone as far as we can getby nibbling at the edge of the problemwith rebates, abatements and freezes.

It’s time to finish the job.

Jon Shure is president of New Jersey PolicyPerspective, a nonprofit organization basedin Trenton that conducts research on stateissues.

$0 $2 $4 $6 $8 $10 $12 $14 $16

Local Property

Total State

Sales

Income

Corporate Business

NJ Tax Receipts

(in billions)

In MemoriamOver the last few months, ANJEC lost two dedicated and loyal long-time volunteers. Bill

Metterhouse, former Board president, treasurer, and long-time trustee and chair of the UpperFreehold (Monmouth) Environmental Commission died at the age of 78. An entomologist andformer director of plant industry at the NJ Department of Agriculture, Bill was nationallyrecognized in the area of plant health and pest management, especially the use of biologicaltechnologies to control specific diseases and pests. Bill also was a leader in local efforts topreserve open space and farmland and to implement a regional greenway.

In Bill’s memory, ANJEC has established the William Metterhouse Integrated PestManagement (IPM) web page in the Online Resource Center section of our web site(www.anjec.org).

Nancy S. Foster, a long time expert environmentalist died after a long illness this spring. Avalued member of the Chatham Township (Morris) environmental commission, she was alsoan active member of the League of Women Voters. ANJEC is most grateful for the donationfrom the Chatham Township Environmental Commission in Nancy’s memory.


Reducing Road GlareBy John BatinseyEatontown (Monmouth) Environmental Commission

Most press coverage presentslight pollution from only one area ofconcern: astronomy. The issues aremuch broader. The NJ Light PollutionStudy Commission determined thatlight pollution is misdirected or exces-sive outdoor lighting that causes glare,nuisance light, energy waste andunnecessary skyglow. Some blame theproblem on development and argue foralmost no night lighting at all. This isabsurd. The issue is not light versusdarkness but good lights versus badlights. With the right fixtures, adverseimpacts will be significantly reduced,including skyglow. Although Texas anda few other states are addressing lightpollution, New Jersey has done nothing.

As we drive New Jersey roads at night,we generally see far too much glarefrom light fixtures wastefully spillinglight upward and beyond the targetarea. Light pollution wastes energy in astrange kind of way. When intense glareshines in your eyes, pupil contractioncan occur. Combined with othermechanisms in the eye, this “veils” thelighted roadway itself making it appeardimmer. So we are using, energy toproduce light that we can’t fully “see”or use.

According to the IlluminatingEngineering Society of North America(IES), the foremost authority on safeand effective lighting practices in thiscountry, lights without cutoffs “may beconsidered a waste of energy” becausethey contribute to glare and visualclutter. Both the Massachusetts MedicalSociety and an Indiana School ofOptometry professor agree that lightshining into motorists’ eyes is a serioussafety issue and can increase thepotential for accidents.

Some argue that non-cutoff lightingonly causes discomfort glare, notdisability glare. This may not always betrue. According to the IES, “Discomfortglare produces a sensation of ocular

discomfort, which, in its milder form,often causes an increase in the blinkrate of an individual and, in its extremeform, tears and pain. . .Discomfortglare may cause fatigue, which resultsin driver error.”

Specific Lighting Problemson NJ�s Roads

The NJ Department of Transporta-tion continues to install non-cutofflighting on all its freeways and high-ways, causing significant levels ofunnecessary glare and probablycreating the most light polluted roadsin the nation. Although the DOTseemed to be heading in the rightdirection in 1996, it has not imple-mented enough cutoff fixtures. TheGarden State Parkway Authoritydeserves high marks for most of its newand replacement lighting, although,there are some exceptions, notably atgas station facilities, some commuterparking lots, and a number of roadwayareas. The NJ Turnpike Authority hasprovided the public with safe, excellentlighting for over 20 years. Most of itsroadways contain cutoff lighting exceptin the Secaucus area and aroundNewark Airport.

Although electric utilities have beeninstalling non-cutoff lights throughoutmost of New Jersey for many years.Jersey Central Power & Light nowmakes standard cutoff streetlights in

cobra head andpost-top colo-nial styles. Bothmust be specifi-cally requested.

In Eatontownour lightingordinance hashelped controllight pollutionin the businesssector for overeight years and

more recently for new streetlights.Cutoff cobra head street lights costabout the same as the non-cutoff types.If minimal cost and energy consump-tion are your main concerns, thecobra heads are more efficient. OnEatontown’s residential streets,colonial fixtures with the same wattagebut on shorter poles needed to bespaced 60 feet closer than the cobraheads to meet the IES minimumilluminance recommendations.

What EnvironmentalCommissions Can Do1. Take a serious look at roadway

lighting in your municipality.2. Work with your governing body to

adopt a local ordinance similar toEatontown’s (an Outdoor LightingGuide, including a copy of theordinance is available from theANJEC Resource Center).

3. Inform the DOT, NJ TurnpikeAuthority and Garden State Parkwayof your concerns about light pollu-tion on their roads and request theymake cutoff fixtures the standard.

Environmental commissions have anopportunity to become part of thesolution in controlling light pollution.Not being part of the solution may bepart of the problem as to why lightpollution is so bad in New Jersey.

A typical light-polluted NJDOT freeway interchange.


The Master PlanVision StatementBy Hannah Thonet, ANJEC InternBarbara Simpson, ANJEC State Plan Project Director

A bout 15 years ago, theWashington Township PlanningBoard (Mercer County) saw itsneighboring towns going theway of suburbia, and worriedthat its own agrarian commu-nity would follow suit.Today, construction hasstarted on a 400 acre,pedestrian and bicyclefriendly center with publicparks, sidewalk cafes, andold style front porches,surrounded by 6,000 acres ofland preserved for agricultureand open space.

Creating Washington’svision statement was a giveand take, long-term process;the planning board had beenpracticing Smart Growthconcepts for years before theycalled a consultant to help verbalize thevision statement. Board members drewon the good and bad images they sawwhen they took field trips to numeroustowns and cities. Planning DirectorRobert Melvin explains, “The more youshow people what their future couldbe, the easier they can verbalize whatthey want.”

A community is much more than acollection of streets, houses andbuildings or subdivisions piecedtogether by a developer. Strongcommunities have a unique characterthat concerned local citizens havebuilt over the years through respon-sible land use planning. Newercommunities can learn from thisexperience by exploring through apublic process what their municipali-ties could look like over the nextseveral decades. Developing a visionstatement should be the first stepwhen amending or writing a masterplan because a well-crafted statementwill tie the rest of the plan together.

Getting the Public InvolvedCreating a vision should be a

collaborative process among citizens,municipal officials (including envi-ronmental commission and planningboard members), developers, engi-neers, and professional planners. Thefirst challenge is to assemble every-one together to start discussing howthe municipality should develop inthe future.

The easiest way to initiate discus-sions is to hold a number of publicmeetings at the start of the masterplan review process where citizenscan share their ideas and opinions.Advertise for these public meetings byplacing press releases in your localpaper, advertising on the communitywebpage, and handing out flyers atthe schools and community centers.Hold the meetings in a centrallocation, and provide transportationand childcare services to entice morecitizens to come.

Tools for VisioningA picture is worth a thousandwords; bring visual aids to themeetings. Photographs fromother towns and cities that haveimplemented their communityvision can help citizens decidewhat characteristics they like

and what they want to avoid. Inaddition, citizens can design theirown three-dimensional vision byusing computer or block models ofbuildings, houses, roads andlandscape. Models make it easierto visualize the final results of the

plan. They also make it possibleto move components arounduntil there is general agreementwith the results.

Other useful techniques togather information on thecitizens’ preferences include

focus groups, mail and telephonesurveys. Mail surveys can reach agreat number of people at a low cost.The results can be easily reported in astandardized format. But, the re-sponse rate is usually low (20-30percent maximum). And participantsgenerally only answer the printedquestions, even when space is in-cluded for additional responses.

Focus groups resemble a morecompact and organized form ofpublic meetings. Responses aregenerally more valuable than thosefrom mail surveys because theyinclude explanations and discussions.However, the person compiling theinformation may inadvertently biasresults because the responses are notstandardized the way mailed surveysare. Also, the results will not be asuseful if the focus group does repre-sent different points of view. Forexample, a focus group on seniorhousing options should includepeople of all ages.

B. PRETZ


A telephone survey offers a middleground. It can reach masses ofinterested citizens, and is standard-ized and impersonal. The interviewercan ask follow-up questions andreceive more detailed answers. Also itis more likely that the entire commu-nity is represented, because a largenumber of people can be contacted.The results may be biased towards theinterviewer’s preferences, but this canbe minimized with well-writtenquestions.

Once you agree on how to commu-nicate with the public, you need tofocus your discussions on issues thatare relevant to your community.

Essential Elementsof the Vision

A vision statement will eventuallybe incorporated into the master plan,which is the basis for the zoningordinance. It is essential that thecommunity identify important orunique resources, so that they arepreserved through the developmentprocess. Such categories may include,but are not limited to, environmental

Another consideration is to make yourcommunity user-friendly so that peoplefrom all walks of life and ages can enjoy it.

resources like streams, maturewoodlands, and steep slopes; agricul-tural resources; historic, cultural, andscenic resources, such as parks andrecreation areas; and non-renewableresources of economic value, such assand, gravel and gas deposits.Brownfields should also be identifiedfor their redevelopment potential.

Another consideration is to makeyour community user-friendly so thatpeople from all walks of life and agescan enjoy it. Greenways shouldseparate and serve as walk-ways or bikeways betweendifferent uses, for exampleconnecting commercialand residential areas toschools and parks. Strip mallsbuilt in isolation without connec-tion to the surrounding developmentshould be avoided.

You should also consider the costsand benefits of development. With littleplanning, development can befinancially expensive, and causesecondary environmental impacts likeair and water pollution and resourcedepletion. On the other hand, specialattention to your community’senvironmental needs may actuallyreduce long-term financial costs. Forexample, river and stream corridorsprovide flood control when they areprotected from development. Also,lighter-colored materials and treesreduce energy use. Both approachesresult in lower municipal costs overthe long-term because natural re-sources are allowed to perform theirspecial functions.

When you’ve envisioned all thegeneral requirements that developersshould follow, you can move on tospecific issues of character and design.Does your community want a historicor a modern look? Will the center oftown contain a pocket park, a highschool, or a shopping district? Topicsof discussion should include land use,infrastructure, and open space. You may also want to includeaesthetic planning features in yourvision statement. For example, thecharacteristics you want in yourcommunity will determine thematerials used for the buildings andthe style of the architecture. Smalland quaint is very different from bigbox or 10-story buildings. Suchfeatures may include building materi-als, styles of buildings, setbacks,lighting, and landscaping, amongothers.

And don’t forget traffic and parking.Will parking be on the streets, in lotsbehind stores, or in parking garages?How much space will be offered? If

you gear your community towardpedestrians and mass transit, andaccommodate but don’t encouragecars, your town will become morepedestrian-friendly. Reducing traffic

With a strong well-thought-out visionstatement, the community will have a betterchance of being pro-active rather thanreacting to individual site developmentplans.

also helps protect the environment,and improves a community’s aesthet-ics and acoustics.

Writing the VisionStatement for theMunicipal Master Plan

The vision statement in the masterplan must be specific to be effective;you can’t leave too much room forinterpretation. With a strong well-thought-out vision statement, thecommunity will have a better chanceof being pro-active rather thanreacting to individual site develop-ment plans. To help developers andcitizens visualize the master plan’svision of what the town will look likein the future, it is a good idea toinclude photographs and illustrations.The master plan should identify thecharacteristics that your communitydeems desirable, thus ensuringappropriate development of yourcommunity.

When creating the vision for yourmaster plan, it is imperative that thecommunication lines among commu-nity members remain open. More-over, everyone must keep an openmind and be willing to give and take.Be prepared to suggest alternative

plans if your views are too extremefor the general public.Once there’s general agree-ment on the vision, you haveone step left. Work with thePlanning Board to write itdown and make it part of the

master plan.B. PRETZ


By Sally Dudley, editor, ANJEC Report

E

Open SpacePreservation:The Job is Never Done

“ternal vigilance is the price

of liberty” is a familiar caution. Openspace needs the same constant watch-fulness. Acquiring a specific piece ofland generally takes an enormousamount of time and energy — to buildsupport, come to agreement with thelandowner, and raise the funds. All toooften, once a tract is purchased orprotected through a conservationeasement, we breathe a sigh of relief,celebrate the accomplishment andmove on to another project. Butacquisition is only the beginning. Asnoted in a study by California’s Centerfor Natural Lands Management(www.cnlm.org), “99 percent of the jobremains once the deal is done.”

One approach to stewardship is toremember that preserved properties are“Saved but not Safe.” This slogan hasbeen an effective rallying point overthe last several decades in the areaaround the Great Swamp NationalWildlife Refuge in Morris and Somersetcounties. The 7,500 acre Great Swampis protected from development becausenature lovers, residents and politiciansunited and successfully opposed thethen NY Port Authority’s 1959 proposalto build the New York area’s fourthjetport which would have destroyedextensive wetlands well known fortheir diverse and unique habitat. Inless than three years, citizens raised $1million (equivalent to$5.9 million in 2002)and turned 3,000acres over to theUS Fish &WildlifeService.WhenPresidentLyndonJohnsondeclared one-

third of the refuge a Wilderness Area in1968, he ensured that a jetport wouldnever be built. Most local residentsrejoiced. The Great Swamp was finallysaved.

But... starting in the ‘70’s develop-ment in the area mushroomed, withlarge housing projects, office parks, andInterstate Route 287. In the early ‘80’sa group of citizens and local officialsformed the Great Swamp WatershedAssociation to promote better land usepolicies and practices to protect thewater in the streams that are the verylifeblood of the Refuge. While thetowns have made considerable progressover the last 20 years, relentlessdevelopment pressures mean the job isnever done.

Today, many residents of the areaaround Great Swamp have come torecognize the value of the Refuge andthe benefits of good planning and openspace preservation. This kind ofagreement is not always the case,especially with smaller tracts. Toomany towns decide that existing parksare the best place for libraries, schoolsand playing fields. With the escalationin land values, many municipalitiesseem to be willing to turn their backson their original agreements to keepthe land open and in a natural state.They are generally able to do thisbecause deeds often lack the needed

specific restrictions.

Easements, deedrestrictions

Conservationeasements anddeed restrictionsare importanttools for landpreservation.Land trusts andgovernment

agencies use conservation easements toprotect water quality, farmland, scenicareas, special habitats and historicresources.

Conservation easements are volun-tary legal agreements between alandowner and a land trust or govern-ment agency. They generally set outspecific restrictions on future develop-ment to protect special resources,describe the rights retained by theowner (for example to farm), and namea land trust or government agency tohold the easement, i.e. be responsiblefor insuring that the conditions of theeasement are honored.

Conservation easement languageshould be very specific. Since theconservation easement is the only legaldocument governing the future use ofthe preserved land, it is crucial to workwith an experienced attorney indeveloping it. While deed restrictionsoften address similar issues, they aregenerally regarded as a weaker tool forland preservation. They usually set upcertain limitations on what can andcannot be done, but do not give aspecific agency the ability to enforcethem.

Elements of StewardshipSuccessful land stewardship is a

never-ending process. It should startwith the initial discussions about aspecific acquisition, include an under-standing of the nature of the preservedresources and of the specific provisionsneeded to protect and manage them.At the heart of stewardship are respon-sibility, care and management of theland for future generations. A steward-ship plan that involves the landowner,neighbors and citizens in developingand implementing a management planfor the preserved area has a betterchance of long term success than one

B. PRETZ


that depends only on monitoring andenforcement against violators. Mostimportantly such a plan sets up aprocess of protecting for rather thanagainst.

Environmental commissions andopen space committees can take severalsteps to put strong land stewardship inplace in their communities. Develop-ing a comprehensive inventory ofexisting public and private open spaceis a good place to start. First, find out ifyour town has a Recreation and OpenSpace Inventory (ROSI) or an OpenSpace Plan put together for Green Acresapplications. Then check the masterplan for an Open Space or GreenwayElement. Reviewing these documentscan help a commission get a better ideaof the state of open space in thecommunity. Then, use the availableinformation to create a comprehensiveinventory and map that includes localand county, state, federal and privateland trust preserved open space.

Next, when the municipality isinvolved in acquisition, whetherthrough purchase, donation or ease-ment, it’s important to be sure that thestated purposes for the preservation areconsistent with the resources on thesite. For example, if the municipality isbuying land or accepting an easementto protect a stream corridor, then thedeed should clearly state that conserva-tion is the goal, that associated wet-lands and specifically defined bufferareas cannot be disturbed. Work withwhoever is leading the acquisitioneffort, whether it’s the planning board,governing body, or a local land trust,offering written comments if necessary.

The basic elements of a Stewardshipor Land Management Plan include abaseline inventory, an evaluation of theresources on the site, plans for use andpublic access and plans for implement-

tool to assess future changes in use.To substantiate what’s being proposed

to protect a site, the baseline inventoryand evaluation of the land should coverstandard Environmental ResourceInventory topics like soils, topography,habitat, water resources, wetlands, treesand vegetation. For example, whenGreen Township (Sussex) purchased alarge farm the Environmental Commis-sion put together a resource inventorywhich became the basis of a plan for thesite’s use. As a result, the active recre-ational areas are on former cornfields,and the sensitive environmental areashave been reserved for hiking trails.

For publicly owned land, determiningthe type and degree of public accessshould be done through an open processthat involves neighbors and otherresidents. This can be a challenge.Mountain Lakes (Morris) grappled with aproposed ordinance to designate passiveand active recreation areas on existingparks with natural areas. The environ-mental commission analyzed the impactsof proposed construction on the wood-lands, habitats, water resources, topogra-phy and soil to help the governing bodyidentify which sites were best suited forthe construction of athletic fields. Stillthe issue has generated enormouscontroversy, with property owners whofear noise, excessive lighting and litterdemanding substantial buffers, andpeople involved in organized sportspushing for conversion of substantialacreage from woodlands to playing fields.

Long Term StrategiesFunding the long-term management

of preserved land is yet another chal-lenge. In 1997, the NJ legislatureamended the enabling legislation forcounty and municipal open space taxes(N.J.S.A. 40:12-15.1 et seq) to allow aportion those funds to be used formaintenance and development as wellas for acquisition. A number of munici-palities and counties have taken advan-tage of this provision. However long-term management is funded, for sitesleft in their natural state, it is a goodidea to involve neighbors and commu-nity service groups. This can help buildawareness and commitment to thenatural values of these preserved sites.

For example, Miami-Dade County,Florida encourages community partici-pation in protecting county-ownedenvironmentally endangered lands

B. PRETZ

Green Acres ROSIsAny town that applies for Green

Acres funds has to prepare aRecreation and Open SpaceInventory (ROSI), which lists byblock and lot all municipallyowned land held for conservationand/or recreation, whether pur-chased with Green Acres funds ornot. The ROSI must include alllands held by the municipality as aresult of purchase, conservationeasements, leases, subdivisionapprovals, and donations. It alsomust list all developed parks, landsdedicated and condemned forconservation and/or recreation.

Under Green Acres rules, once amunicipality lists a tract on itsROSI, it must maintain it as openspace forever. If the municipalitywants to change the use, forexample build a new library onparkland, it must go through alengthy diversion process andobtain the approval of the NJDEPCommissioner and the State HouseCommission. The municipalitymust show that the diversion willresult in significant public benefit,that impacts to the preserved landwill be minimal, and that there areno alternatives. It must also comeup with replacement conservationand/or recreation land that isequal or greater in fair marketvalue and reasonably equivalent insize, location and usefulness.

ing and financing long term manage-ment. Public participation especially bythe landowner (whether private orpublic) and neighbors is essential togain support and understanding.Having an inventory and evaluation ofthe site’s resources is a very important


through an Adopt-A-Natural Areaprogram. The NJ Natural Lands Trust,which accepts donations of ecologi-cally important lands, works with anumber of citizen groups to helpmanage some of its preserves through-out the state. The Harding Township(Morris) environmental commissionhas worked with the local Boy Scouttroop to develop a trail and signagethrough woodlands on a 50-acrepreserved piece.

Community education is anotherpositive approach. Several commis-sions including Mendham Township(Morris) and Wenonah (Gloucester)have produced trail guides for theircommunities. These publicationshelp raise local awareness of the valueand benefits of the municipalities’natural resources. Mendham’sbrochure includes rules for trail use(restrictions for horses, bicycles,motorized vehicles) and a key to trailblazes. Wenonah’s is available in printand on the web (www.geocities.com/woodsofwenonah/html/trails.html) andhas helped build support for a “Ring ofGreen” campaign to surround theborough with walking trails.

Include Stewardshipin Acquisition

Because long-term stewardship is soimportant, it’s a good idea to includefunding for stewardship in the initialacquisition if at all possible. Manyland trusts establish endowments forland management funds.

Every piece of land has its ownecological resources, like wetlands,forests, meadows, streams and ponds,steep slopes, unique geologicalformations, and special habitats forthreatened and endangered species.When a site is left in its natural state,these features change over time. Treesand bushes grow and produce seed-lings. Some die, fall down and rot.And if people are managing the land,whether to preserve specific naturalvalues or to provide active or passiverecreation, then the changes can bequite considerable. As a result of bothnatural and human processes, thecharacter of a specific piece of landcan change dramatically over time,sometimes in a way that is contrary tothe purposes for which the land wasoriginally preserved.

Many municipalities requiredevelopers to give them conservationeasements on wetlands and buffers aspart of a Planning Board approval.Too often no one monitors theseareas, which are generally relativelysmall. Over time, adjoining propertyowners may infringe on the easement,using the transition area buffer as aconvenient place to dump yard waste,or converting the meadow into alawn. The NJ Freshwater WetlandsProtection Act prohibits these kinds ofchanges in transition areas for goodreason. They need to maintain theirvegetative character to filter andabsorb runoff and protect the integrityof the wetlands.

Preserved sites are rarely subject to thescale of destruction and change thatthreatens private lands. Still develop-ment on and off the site can threatenthe ecological integrity of any piece ofpreserved open space at any time. Aplan with short term and long termgoals can help deal with issues as theyarise.

Opportunities abound for open spacestewardship. Like almost every otherenvironmental activity, land steward-ship needs to include a strong andaccurate database, ongoing participationby local officials, and citizens, a compre-hensive plan and eternal vigilance bythe environmental commission andinterested citizens.

ANJEC Annual Meeting andElection of Board Members

The ANJEC Board of Trustees’ Nominating Committee has proposed thefollowing slate for 2002.

OfficersTwo-year termsPresident ............................................ Robert Dobbs, Camden County Soil Conservation DistrictVice-President for Operations ........... Chris Allyn, Harding (Morris) Environmental CommissionSecretary ........................................... Jeff Gollin, Northern Monmouth Chamber of CommerceImmediate Past President ................. Gary Szelc, P.E., advisor to Old Bridge (Middlesex)

Environmental Commission

Unexpired one year termsVice-President for Development ....... Nelson Dittmar, Cranford (Union) Environmental

Commission, Pricewaterhouse Coopers (retired)Treasurer ........................................... Nancy Tindall, Mercer County Open Space Committee,

Washington Township (Mercer) Planning Board

Trustees (three year terms)Atlantic Coastal Region ..................... G. Wayne Winner, NJ American Water Co.Lower Delaware Region .................... Cyndy Berchtold, Camden County Environmental

CommissionUpper Delaware Region .................... Tina Bologna, Byram (Sussex) Environmental Commis-

sion, Garden State EnvironetMimi Upmeyer, Delaware (Hunterdon) Environmental

Commission, Hunterdon Land Trust AlliancePassaic Region .................................. Merwin Kinkade, Montclair (Essex) Environmental

Commission, environmental consultant

Retiring Trustees ............................. Alan Esenlohr, Peter Kroll, Jan Larson, and JonathanMaslow are nominated to the Advisory Committee.

ANJEC members will vote on the slate of nominees at ANJEC’s annualmeeting held at the Environmental Congress on Friday October 18, 2002 atthe Busch Campus Center, Rutgers University, Piscataway. At that timeadditional nominations may be made from the floor.

For additional information, contact the ANJEC offices at 973-539-7547 [email protected]


ANJEC Announces Grants forSmart Growth Planningby Kerry Miller, ANJEC Assistant Director

In March, the NJ Department ofEnvironmental Protection released astudy that assessed the state’s goal forno net loss of wetlands through mitiga-tion projects that create wetlands. Theresults reflected disastrously lowsuccess. Of the sites studied, the stateactually lost an average of .22 acresinstead of creating 1.8 acres for everyacre filled. The report recommendedthat NJDEP’s should focus on avoiding

The Best Mitigation: Avoid Wetlands Lossesby Abigail Fair, ANJEC Water Resources Specialist

Over the coming year, eleven NewJersey municipalities in the Highlands,Pinelands and Delaware Bayshoreregions will utilize ANJEC SmartGrowth Assistance Grants for land useplanning projects that will protectnatural resources in concert with“smart growth” methods and the StatePlan. The grants range from $1,000 to$25,000. Funding for this excitingprogram comes from the Geraldine R.Dodge Foundation, which concentratesits environmental efforts in those threespecial areas of our state.

A committee of ANJEC staff, aprofessional planner, and representa-tives of several other statewide environ-mental organizations selected therecipient towns from a field of 16applicants. “We were looking formunicipalities that expressed a strongdesire to make real changes in theirland use regulation, to avoid over-development and channel growth awayfrom sensitive environmental lands.We also looked for strong support andinvolvement on the part of the localenvironmental commission or openspace committee,” said ExecutiveDirector Sandy Batty.

The grant program will enable townsto research and implement changes intheir master plans, zoning and otherordinances, to focus growth intoappropriate areas that have infrastruc-ture in place, and discourage growth inareas that provide critical naturalresource functions. The changes wouldprotect steep slopes, land around waterbodies, wellhead and aquifer rechargeareas, and areas that are habitat forthreatened and endangered wildlife,where development would degrade theresource function of the land.

Some towns will produce a NaturalResource Inventory or an Open SpacePlan that can provide a sound basis for

future planning changes. Other townswill develop master plan and ordinancechanges including design standards,downzoning, and redevelopment plansthat will prevent sprawl-type develop-ment and protect open space. Thegoverning body in each municipalityhas expressed support for the projectthrough a resolution and commitmentto provide matching funds.

The towns receiving grants are:Highlands● Byram Twp. (SU) - $20,000 for a plan

to prevent over-development and theaccompanying environmentalimpacts in a lake community.

● West Milford (PA) - $20,000 todetermine dependable groundwateryields and groundwater susceptibilityto contamination, on which to basedevelopment limits.

● Pohatcong Twp. (WA) - $2,125 for anopen space and recreation plan.

● Hamburg Borough (SU) - $7,000 foran open space and greenway plan.

● Lebanon Twp. (HU) - $3,000 for anatural resource inventory.

● Greenwich Twp. (WA) - $1,000 for anatural resource inventory.

Pinelands● Franklin Twp. (GL)- $25,000 for

community visioning, a buildoutanalysis, and master plan revisions andordinances that will preserve the ruralcharacter of the town.

● Plumsted Twp. (OC) - $13,000 to workwith Delaware Valley Regional Plan-ning Commission to create a criticalareas master plan element and compan-ion zoning ordinances.

● Winslow Twp. (CA) - $25,000 todevelop design standards for a walkabletown center, ordinances to requireopen space, tree retention and im-proved stormwater management duringdevelopment, and an incentive pro-gram to preserve open space.

Delaware Bayshore● City of Bridgeton (CU) - $25,000 for a

waterfront plan that includes redevel-opment with greenway and regionalopen space and recreation linkages.

● East Greenwich (GL) - $4,100 todevelop an open space and recreationplan that includes the identification oflarge parcels that should be clusterdeveloped, to create blocks of contigu-ous preserved open space.

The master plan elements and ordinancesthat come out of this program willundoubtedly provide models for othercommunities. Look for follow-up articlesin the ANJEC Report as the yearprogresses.

wetlands losses as well as minimizingimpacts to wetlands because of theproblems with mitigation. The studyalso found that the wetland typescreated through mitigation were notwhat the plans intended to accomplish,particularly for forested wetlands.

Conducted by Amy S. GreeneEnvironmental Consultants, Inc.working with NJDEP’s Division ofScience, Research and Technology and


wetlandsregulatoryprogram, thestudy re-viewed 90creationmitigationsites based onthe availabilityof enough information regarding thesize and type of mitigation to allowfor a thorough and consistent evalua-tion.

The overall results showed aconsistent lack of success, whether thewetlands creation was for forested,shrub/scrub, emergent and open waterwetlands. Most dramatic was thefailure to create forested wetlands.NJDEP approved more than 100 acresof creation mitigation and only 1.99acres were achieved. The studyconcluded that a major difficulty wasthe lack of clearly defined mitigationplans that could actually lead tomeasurement of success. For ex-ample, a plan should have a goal forthe amount of vegetation successfully

Earth Share of New JerseyNew Jersey’s leading environmental

groups founded Earth Share of NewJersey (ESNJ) to raise funds economicallythrough collaborative fundraising inworkplace giving campaigns. Earth Shareof New Jersey is a coalition of 18 state-wide and 42 national and internationalorganizations and part of a nationalalliance of more than 450 environmentaland conservation groups. Ninety percentof the funds raised go to member groups.All contributions are tax deductible to thefullest extent provided by law.

Through Earth Share of New Jersey youcan set up an automatic deduction fromyour paycheck. Your contribution will bedivided among ESNJ members or, you candirect your entire donation to one or morespecific organizations.

If you would like more information aboutsetting up Earth Share of New Jersey atyour place of employment, contact KimKaiser at ANJEC (973-539-7547) or KenMedd, Executive Director of Earth Share ofNew Jersey (908-872-3400). Earth Shareof New Jersey can also help promote andmanage workplace campaigns.

New Jersey Organizations who aremembers of Earth Share

American Littoral SocietyANJEC

Clean Ocean ActionEnvironmental Education Fund

Great Swamp Watershed AssociationGreater Newark Conservancy

IslesMonmouth Conservation Foundation

Morris Land ConservancyNJ Audubon Society

NJ Conservation FoundationPassaic River Coalition

Pinelands Preservation AllianceRutgers Environmental Law Clinic

South Branch Watershed AssociationStony Brook Millstone Watershed Association

Wetlands InstituteFor a complete list of Earth Share members, go to

www.earthsharenj.org.

B. PRETZ

established in adefined time

period.The

study alsofound that:

projects werenot always

conducted insuitable locations;

inadequate hydrology was a majorcontributing factor; less than half ofthe projects followed NJDEP require-ments; and NJDEP needs to follow-upand monitor mitigation projects moreclosely.

Given the study’s results, it is clearthat environmental commissions,local officials and citizens shouldcontinue to do everything possible topreserve New Jersey’s remainingwetlands. Their important waterresource functions, including absorb-ing pollutants and floodwaters, as wellas habitat for endangered and threat-ened species are irreplaceable. The full report can be found atwww.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/wetlands

In July, Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman(R-NY) and Sen. John Corzine (D-NJ),introduced the Highlands StewardshipAct, a new, partnership approach toaddressing urban sprawl, promotingsmart growth, providing for a balancebetween the environmental andeconomic needs and defining thefederal government’s role. Co-spon-sors of the legislation includedRepresentatives Rodney Frelinghuysen(R-NJ), Rush Holt (D-NJ), MargeRoukema (R-NJ) and Sen. RobertTorricelli (D-NJ). The bill wouldestablish the Highlands StewardshipArea in New York, New Jersey, Con-necticut and Pennsylvania, the firstsuch area of its kind and bring $25million a year for 10 years to protectthe 2-million acre region.

A recently released US Forest Servicereport reinforces a 1992 study thatconcluded the Highlands is of na-tional significance for the diversityand quality of its natural resourcesand as a recreational area within reachof 20 million Americans. The High-

Highlands Protection Takes a Step Forwardby Tom Gilbert, Executive Director, Highlands Coalition

lands provide drinking water for 94 NJmunicipalities and parts of NYC,recreation for 14 million visitorsannually, and wildlife habitat for 247threatened and endangered species.

From 1985 to 1990, more than5,000 acres in the NY-NJ Highlandswere developed annually, and, from1995-2000, 3,400 acres of forests andwetlands were destroyed annually,quadruple the rate of the prior decade.A 48 percent increase in population isprojected under current zoning andland use laws. If trends continue,ground water withdrawals are ex-pected to exceed supply in Highlandswatersheds including the Ramapo,Whippany, Pequest, Upper Delaware,and Lopatcong and possibly theRockaways and Upper Musconetcongbasins.

To see the full US Forest Servicereport, go to www.fs.fed.us/na/highlands/draft_report.


In the Presence of Fear: Three Essaysfor a Changed World, by WendellBerry, The Orion Society, GreatBarrington, MA, 42 pages, $8.00.

Wendell Berry is a conservationist,farmer, essayist, poet and author of32 books. He lives on a farm inKentucky where he was born in 1934.

This collection of three essays, twoof which were written in the wake ofSeptember 11, is thought provoking.“Thoughts in the Presence of Fear”consists of 27 statements that link hisconcerns with our over-reliance ontechnology and innovation and theneed for a peaceable economy. Hedefines that economy as one in whichwe acknowledge that “we cannotspend and consume endlessly.” Thesecond essay gives greater detailabout an ideal local economy, onethat is self-sufficient, exporting onlythe surplus of the goods and servicesit creates. In the final essay, “InDistrust of Movements,” he assertshis dissatisfaction because move-ments “are too specialized, they arenot comprehensive enough, they arenot radical enough...and ultimatelyare insincere.” He believes that it isnot enough to simply support amovement, but one must act on alocal level in harmony with natureusing cheap, accessible solutions torespect our earth and its resources.

This book can be read in an hour,but will leave you pondering itsmessage for much longer.

Pam Kuhn,ANJEC Resource Center Volunteer

Thought Provoking Essays on the Importance of Conservation

The Great Remembering, Furtherthoughts on Land, Soul and Society,by Peter Forbes, The Trust for PublicLand, San Francisco, CA. 2001, 95pages, $14.95.

“Let us consider the way in whichwe live our lives” — the questionThoreau often asked of his audience,this book poses to its readers. In ourdetermination to protect the placeswe love, can we make the necessarysacrifices, express dissent in ways wehave not done before?

In the face of accelerating landdevelopment, TPL is searching fornew ways, even a new paradigm ofland conservation. Forbes exploresthe problems faced by the forces ofland conservation and states theobvious - that we cannot win this warwith our current weapons. There isnot enough money, not enoughpeople, not enough will within themovement to set aside even thetreasures - much less the lands thatcontribute daily to our quality of life.TPL President Will Rogers asks “Howcan we…better harness people’spowerful connection with theland...change how our society ap-proaches not just land use, but ourrelationship to each other, our senseof community and our responsibili-ties as citizens in a shrinking world?Heavy stuff, this.

Forbes speaks of us being dimin-ished by the changes in the landscapeupon which we live. His childhoodstate fairgrounds are now a mall —and his (and my) childhood woodsare now a sub-division. He says wehave traded an idiosyncratic story fora financial transaction. This transac-tion “one that we make every day inalmost every place” is said to lead usfrom a “recorded, quirky humanhistory” to what others have calledthe extinction of human experience.

Speaking of childhood experiences,

Forbes quotes Dr. Suess’ Lorax topoint up the consumerism runningrampant in this country:

“I meant no harm,I most truly did not.But I had to grow bigger.So bigger I got.I biggered my factory.I biggered my roads.I biggered my wagons.I biggered the loads.I went right on biggering,selling more Thneeds.And I biggered my money,which everyone needs.”

Our need of Thneeds (and otherthings) uses up land and quiets thestories we need to hear. It may alsomake us lose our connections to theland and to ways we might better liveon the planet.

Forbes believes the struggle topreserve land is a life-altering experi-ence, enabling people to tackle otherstruggles, bringing a sense of mean-ing and self-determination. He seesland conservation as civil disobedi-ence opposing prevailing culturalforces and as an act of self-liberationleading to meaning, purpose and joy.The need to connect on a personallevel - not “abdicate our personalresponsibility to live with care” seemscrucial to saving our lands. Withoutsacrifice or effort we have not engen-dered the changes needed to preserveour heritage, our “wholeness” embod-ied in the places, the land we love.And Forbes’ definition is simple -“Land is Love.” Saving land is allabout saving relationships, communi-ties and self-determination. In theend, Forbes says, it is about being alittle wild.

Lisa Voyce, ANJEC Project Director


Information commissions can pass on to their communities

Environmentally-friendly Lawns

Last year, a second edition of thepopular Redesigning the AmericanLawn: A Search for EnvironmentalHarmony, by F. Herbert Bormann,Diana Balmori, and Gordon T.Geballe (Yale University Press 2001)was released. I highly recommendthis book for anyone who wants toget more enjoyment out of the homelandscape and help improve the localenvironment. First published in 1993,the book has inspired people in thelast nine years to transition theircommunities towards a more sustain-able environment via better lawnmanagement. What does your greenlawn have to do with creating a morefit physical environment for allspecies to enjoy? Plenty!

According to the authors, one ofthe best ways we can improve ourlocal environment is for landownersto move away from their monocultureof a frequently mowed all-grass andcontinuously green industrial lawn to amore diverse meadow or grove. Thenew landscape would be natural, woulduse organic fertilizers derived fromdecomposing leaves and plant debris,and be primarily made up of nativeplants, grasses, and shrubs.

For example, the authors pointedout that in Milford, CT, local resi-dents got together on Earth Day 1996to increase local ecological awarenessand anti-pollution activities. Inresponse, the town adopted a “Free-dom Lawn” concept. Each year thetown holds a competition to identifyand honor five homeowners withnatural and native landscapes. Theauthors state that “the judges look forchemical free lawns that contain adiversity of plants species, patches of

By Joe Reynolds, Atlantic Highlands Environmental [email protected]

reprinted from the Atlantic Highlands Herald (www.ahhherald. com)

forest or meadow, bird feeders andbirdbaths, and the presence of graveldriveways (gravel driveways allowrainwater to sink into the soil ratherthan run off into the street.”

Why should you care about rede-signing your lawn and home land-scape? For starters, it will make yourlandscape more earthy, more alive,more dynamic, and fun to maintain,as there will be increased opportuni-ties to view wildlife and to enjoyvarious beautiful native plant species.Sadly, up to a third of our floraspecies in New Jersey are non-nativeand this percentage is growing rapidlyevery year.

There are many ecological andeconomical benefits. First, naturalmeadows and forest edges help toincrease biological diversity, as theyprovide important meadow-shrubhabitat for a variety of insects, birds,butterflies, and mammals for ahealthy food web. This will help tolessen the negative effects of habitatfragmentation and degradation fromsprawl, and the invasion of non-native and aggressive species.

Secondly, a natural habitat in yourfront lawn also helps to lessen non-point pollution from fertilizers andpesticides. Whatever amount (and insome case it could be up to 90percent) of these toxic chemicals donot get directly absorbed by yourlawn will either end up in ourgroundwater, surface water, ordrinking water. Thirdly, a nativeplant meadow is nontoxic, requireslittle watering or maintenance, and isenergy effective.

Economically, a natural lawn savestime and money. The authors indicatethat sod is an expensive substance. Anine square foot section of sod costsapproximately $4.00. This means thatfor a landowner to cover 5,000 squarefeet of new lawn would cost over$2,200, and this does not eveninclude the delivery, the site prepara-tion, and the maintenance. In somecases, landowners with a monocultureof green grass on just 0.6 acres ofland can spend over $400 per year onits maintenance and the purchase ofequipment, pesticides, and fertilizersto artificially make it look green.Most alarming in this time of seriousdrought conditions is that in 1990,according to the authors, up to 30percent of drinking water sources onthe East Coast were used for wateringlawns. The authors also indicate thata natural lawn should be incorporatedin initial roadway designs and on allpublic landscapes to help control thecost to government from groundmaintenance activities.

My advice to you is to be bold, bedifferent, and stop being like all thepeople who have helped to contributeto 31 million acres of lawn in theUnited States. Seek out a new designfor your home landscape that incor-porates native plants, biologicaldiversity, and will help to contributeto long-term sustainability in yourcommunity. Birds, butterflies, nativeplants, and our local waterways willthank you!

For more information on New Jersey’snative plants, check out the NativePlant Society of New Jersey’s website at:http://www.npsnj.org.


By Valorie Caffee, Director of Organizing,New Jersey Work Environment Council

“Waterfront South” evokes imagesof a vacation destination, but thisSouth Camden neighborhood ofpredominantly Black and Latinoresidents is home to triple theamount of environmental pollutionof any other New Jersey community.It is also the state’s Jersey’s poorestcommunity. A county incinerator,trash-to-steam plant, co-generationplant, two Superfund sites, 15 otherknown contaminated sites, an indus-trial medical laundry, industrialparks, and a regional sewage treat-ment plant are located here.

The New Brunswick-Rahway-Linden-Elizabeth-Newark areas of thestate represent the vision mostoutsiders have of New Jersey—densely-populated cities enveloped bymiles of a heavily-congested turnpikethat’s a backdrop to smelly oilrefineries and tank farms, lingering,toxic plumes from incinerators andindustrial smokestacks, and numer-ous Superfund sites still awaitingclean-up.

This is what environmental racismand injustice look like, but it doesn’t

tell the whole story. Ever since agroup of courageous residents inWarren County, North Carolinasucceeded in preventing the statefrom storing 6,000 truckloads of PCB-contaminated soil in a landfill neartheir community, more people beganto suspect that many communitieswith large populations of Black,Latino and low-income residents ofall races bear more environmentaldegradation and pollution thanmajority white, middle-class commu-nities.

Landmark studies by the RacialJustice Commission of the UnitedChurch of Christ and ClarkeUniversity’s Dr. Robert Bullardconfirmed these suspicions. Coordi-nated efforts in the late ’80s helpedspawn a true mass movement whenthe 1,000 attendees at the 1991 firstPeople of Color Environmental Leader-ship Summit crafted the workingdocument, “Principles of Environ-mental Justice.”

These events broadened andredefined “environment” to includeplaces where people live, work, pray,play, and go to school. The trend toturn urban areas into toxic waste-lands and dumping grounds was nowbeing opposed for the first time in anorganized way. (Suburban neighbor-hoods with significant numbers ofBlacks, Latinos, Native American“Indian” tribal lands also fall underthe scope of the movement.)

The role of governmentAnother significant response to

ongoing advocacy and organizingefforts was a 1994 Executive Order byPresident Clinton that aimed toprevent environmental racism underTitle VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.This document recognized that thatcommunities with large populationsof people of color are the ones most

impacted by disproportionate envi-ronmental problems.

By the late 1990’s both the USEnvironmental Protection Agency andthe NJ Department of EnvironmentalProtection were starting to deal withenvironmental justice issues. USEPAissued guidance to “provide a frame-work for processing Title VI com-plaints from communities allegingdiscrimination.” NJDEP created abroad-based Environmental EquityTask Force to develop an environ-mental justice policy and revise itspollution permit regulations.1 In2000, DEP Commissioner RobertShinn established the state’s firstenvironmental equity policy andmade the Environmental Equity TaskForce a permanent advisory council.

In early 2002, the Advisory Counciland NJDEP staff proposed precedent-setting regulations for pollutionpermits. The “Expanded CommunityParticipation Process for Environmen-tal Equity, EE Process,” proposal wasintended to set up a mechanism forextensive community participation inpermit decision-making. It alsomandates that NJDEP comply withTitle VI by using various new assess-ment and compliance procedures todetermine if pollution permits fortoxic facilities would have an adverse,disparate impact on the communitiesin which they’re located and/orviolate the civil rights of the resi-dents.

The rule proposal helped raise thelevel of awareness about environmen-tal justice. For the first time hundredsof New Jersey residents participatedin a statewide dialogue on this seriousissue. While the rule received wide-

EnvironmentalJustice:A New MovementSeeking Allies

1 NJDEP, unlike most involved in the Environmental JusticeMovement, uses the term �equity� rather than the word �justice.�One of the goals of the Environmental Justice Movement is not torequire �equity,� which implies the browning of green areas, but toadvocate for cleaner industries, among other goals.


spread general support, many peoplesaw a need for amendments to giveNJDEP the authority to deny permitsif the facilities would increase theenvironmental burden and/or violatethe civil rights of community mem-bers. The rule’s screening tool todetermine if the permit would furtherharm already-burdened communitieswas also problematic, with mostpeople noting that it was difficult tounderstand and wouldn’t proveuseful.

New DEP Commissioner BradCampbell agreed that the screeningtool needs to be overhauled andproposed an alternative approach inMay. He announced that the depart-ment was working on a proposal thatwould allow people to petition theNJDEP to hold public hearings toaddress their environmental justiceconcerns about a polluting facility. Ifthe department concurred that thecomplaint was warranted, then itwould develop an action plan to helpalleviate the problem. The depart-ment would examine the facility inquestion and evaluate the otherenvironmental burdens affecting thecommunity.

Safety Not Secrecy“This ‘petition program’ is similar

to WEC’s Safety, not Secrecy (SNS)campaign,” notes WEC Director RickEngler. “There are some differences,though. Where the NJDEP’s approachfocuses on environmental injusticecomplaints, our campaign asks thestate to hold public hearings if 50 ormore residents and/or workers sign apetition concerning the potentialsafety, security or environmental riskfrom a specific facility in any commu-nity.”

Engler explains that New Jersey hashundreds of hazardous and toxicindustries, and that the tragedy ofSeptember 11 reminded us that ourworkplaces and communities areneither safe nor secure. These factorsmotivated WEC to organize the SNSCampaign. ANJEC is one of more than70 organizations that has endorsed it.“It will also benefit people living inenvironmentally overburdenedcommunities,” Engler added, “be-cause they are the ones living nearthe most hazardous industries.”

New studies show the detrimental

health effects from environmentalexposures. One, by Greater BostonPhysicians for Social Responsibility inconjunction with the Clean WaterFund, examines the intersectionbetween child development problemsand chemical exposures. The reportconcludes that a variety of chemicalexposures have contributed to an“epidemic of developmental, learning,and behavioral disabilities” amongchildren.” The second report, issuedby WEC, found that the majority ofpublic schools in Clifton and Patersonare located less than a mile fromfacilities that store more than 10,000pounds of toxic chemicals. Repeatedaccidental releases from such facilitiesin Paterson jeopardize the health andwelfare of area school children,personnel and residents.

“People of color and low-incomeresidents bear the onus of adversehealth affects from environmentalpollution,” says Engler. “Asthma andother respiratory illnesses are atepidemic proportions in many of thesecommunities, and poor air qualityfrom toxic facilities is one of thetriggers for these health problems.”

USEPA states that environmentaljustice means “fair treatment.” Asdefined by the EPA, “Fair treatmentmeans that no racial, ethnic or socio-economic groups should bear adisproportionate share of negativeenvironmental consequences fromindustrial, municipal, and commercialoperations, or the execution of federal,state, local and tribal programs andpolicies.”

The Environmental Justice Move-ment needs other environmental alliesto help it achieve the goal of “fairtreatment” and state and federalpolicies and programs that mandate“green” economic investment anddevelopment, the clean-up of oururban areas, and government commit-ments to non-discriminatory programsand policies. This is an open invitationfor you to become an environmentaljustice ally.

Valorie Caffee is the Director of Organiz-ing for the New Jersey Work EnvironmentCouncil and a member of the NJDEPEnvironmental Equity Advisory Council.WEC is an alliance of environmental/environmental justice, community andlabor organizations that works for safe,

secure jobs and a healthy, sustainableenvironment. For more informationabout environmental justice issues,WEC, or how to obtain copies of thereports contact Valorie at (609) 695-7100 or at [email protected], or the WECwebsite at www.njwec.org

Kudos to ANJEC andEnvironmentalCommissioners

Every day across the state environ-mental commission members areworking hard to protect natural re-sources and improve environmentalquality. Recent honors recognized thework of ANJEC, several staff members,and environmental commissioners.

NJ Planning Officials, the statewideorganization for planning and zoningboard members presented ANJEC with aPlanning Achievement Award for itsprograms to protect natural resourcesthrough good land use planning.

The Great Swamp Watershed Associa-tion (Morris) recognized long-termcontributions to open space protectionand good land use, honoring Jo AnnCasadevall, former chair of theMorristown commission, Penny Hinkle,former chair of the Harding commis-sion and executive director of theHarding Land Trust, Sarah Dean Link,former chair of the Mendham Townshipcommission, Helen Fenske, one ofANJEC’s founders and a long-timeenvironmental activist, and ANJEC staffmembers Sally Dudley and Abigail Fair.

The Moorestown (Burlington) ServiceClub Council honored Barbara Rich ascitizen of the year for her unrelentingpersistence and dedication with manyachievements, including founder ofSTEM (Save the Environment ofMoorestown), president of the RancocasConservancy, a long time member ofthe Moorestown EnvironmentalCommittee and a former ANJEC staffmember.

And the Borough of Mountain Lakespresented Executive Director SandyBatty with the 2002 Janice D. HuntsLifetime Service Award for her manyyears of community service and leader-ship on the environmental commission,planning board and governing body.

Bravo and congratulations to all.


By Michele Gaynor, ANJEC Resource Center Director

Commissions have a variety ofsources they can look to for fundingenvironmental activities in theircommunities. Grants and loans areavailable for projects from streamrestoration and open space planning tohistoric restoration and communityeducation. Most grants go directly tothe municipality.

Environmental Commission ProjectsNEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OFENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (NJDEP)Environmental Services ProgramEnvironmental commissions and soil conservationdistricts are eligible for annual matching grants of up to$2,500 for projects like environmental resourceinventories, environmental educational materials, traildesign, stream and water quality testing and GISmapping. Contact: 609-984-0828, www.state.nj.us/dep/grantandloanprograms

Open Space PreservationNJDEP GREEN ACRESMunicipal and county governments are eligible formatching grants to acquire open space and developoutdoor recreation facilities. Those with open spacetaxes and open space and recreation plans can obtain50 percent Planning Incentive grants. Green Acresalso offers 25 percent grants for specific projects.Contact: 609-984-0500, www.state.nj.us/dep/greenacres

NEW JERSEY ENVIRONMENTALINFRASTRUCTURE TRUSTMunicipalities can obtain low cost loans ($200,000 ormore) for infrastructure including wastewater systems,drinking water supplies, stormwater control and openspace acquisition that preserves water quality andquantity. Only passive recreation is allowed on landsacquired with this funding. Contact: 609-219-8600,www.njeit.org

Farmland PreservationNJ STATE AGRICULTUREDEVELOPMENT COMMITTEEMunicipalities with a farmland preservation element intheir Master Plan and a source of funding are eligible

for Planning Incentive Grants (PIG) to purchasedevelopment easements for permanent protection oflarge blocks of contiguous farmland. Contact yourcounty agriculture board for smaller projects.Contact: 609-984-2504, www.state.nj.us/agriculture

Historic PreservationNJ HISTORIC TRUSTLocal governments, counties and qualified non-profits can obtain matching grants to restore andmanage historic sites. Contact: 609-984-0473,www.njht.org

NJDEP CERTIFIEDLOCAL GOVERNMENT GRANTSCertified Local Governments (CLG) can obtainmatching grants to promote historic preservationthrough resource surveys, planning and educationprojects. Contact: 609-984-6017 www.state.nj.us/dep/grantandloanprograms/nhrhpclgg.htm

MAIN STREET NEW JERSEYNJ DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS(NJDCA)Selected communities with populations of 4,000 to50,000 who are willing to make a financialcommitment can receive technical assistance andtraining to improve the economy, appearance andimage of their central business districts. Contact:609-633-9769, www.state.nj.us/dca/dhcr/msnj.htm

Water Quality/Watershed ProtectionNJDEP NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTIONMunicipalities and non-profits can obtain grants toimprove water quality in local rivers and streams bycontrolling nonpoint source pollution. Eligibleprojects include stream bank restoration, waterquality improvement actions and development ofregional stormwater management plans. Contact:609-633-1379, www.state.nj.us/dep/watershedmgt/programs

WETLANDS MITIGATION COUNCILThe Council reviews mitigation proposals when anapplicant cannot meet NJDEP mitigation require-ments under the Freshwater Wetlands ProtectionAct. It can accept cash contributions in lieu of actualon-site mitigation and disburse funds for mitigationprojects that will help to compensate the public forwetlands losses. Contact: 609-633-6563

Habitat RestorationFUNDING FOR HABITAT RESTORATIONPROJECTS: A CITIZENS’ GUIDEA guide to federal funding and/or technical assistanceprograms for habitat restoration, including the WetlandReserve Program, Watershed Protection and FloodPrevention, and the National Estuary Program.Contact: Restore American ‘s Estuaries, 703-524-0248, www.estuaries.org

Tree ProtectionNJDEP GREEN ACRESMunicipalities and non-profits can obtain U.S.Department of Agriculture funds through NJDEPGreen Acres to purchase large tracts of forested landswith priority to forest lands with important scenic,cultural, and recreation resources, fish and wildlifehabitats, water resources and other ecological values.Contact: 609-984-0500, www.state.nj.us/dep/greenacres

NJDEP FOREST SERVICECOMMUNITY FORESTRYMatching grant programs for municipalities can helpfinance planting trees on public land and developCommunity Forestry Management Plans. TheCommunity Stewardship Incentive Program offersgrants to help municipalities implement managementgoals and practices in their Community ForestryManagement Plans.Contact: 609-292-2532

Transportation/TrailsNJ DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATIONENHANCEMENT GRANTS (TEA-21)Grants for local and county projects that improve theaesthetic and cultural qualities of transportation.Projects may include the creation of bicycle andpedestrian trails, restoration and rehabilitation ofhistoric canals, train stations and improvements ofdowntown streetscapes. Contact: 609-530-3640,www.state.nj.us/transportation/lgs

National Recreational TrailsProgramNJDEP OFFICE OF NATURAL LANDSMANAGEMENTFinancial assistance is available to municipalities,counties and non-profits for developing andmaintaining trails and facilities for non-motorized,multi-use and motorized purposes with public access.Contact: 609-984-1173

Smart GrowthNJDCA SMART GROWTH PLANNING GRANTSCounty and local governments can obtain grants tohelp design and build livable communities to revitalizeurban centers, protect environmental quality andprovide adequate housing and public services. Mayrequire a local match.Contact: 609-292-7156, www.state.nj.us/osp

For more information please contactthe ANJEC Resource Center at 975-539-7547, or [email protected].

Grants and Loans to SupportEnvironmental Protection


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29th Environmental CongressFriday October 18th

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Donald F. EliasA. Roger Greenway

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Joe Norton, Environmental Specialist

Specializing in Real EstateAssessment and Site Investigation

Testing of Air • Soil • Water

Environmental Impacts • Resource Inventories • Grants • Wetlands

Environmental ConsultantsThomas D’Angelo

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CORPORATE DONORS

Environmental Congress 2002Friday, October 18 � 8:30am � 4:00pm

Rutgers UniversityBusch Campus Center, Piscataway

Featured Speaker:Bradley Campbell, Commissioner

NJ Department of Environmental Protection�Plans for the Department�

Keynote Speaker:Andrew Dannenberg, MD, MPH

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention�The Health Effects of Sprawl�

Workshop Sessions❏ Green building, community design and public health❏ Addressing environmental health issues – childhood

asthma and lead poisoning❏ Managing home environment issues - indoor air quality,

mold and common pests❏ Protecting critical resources on preserved open space❏ Using ERIs and carrying capacity analysis to strengthen

local land use planning❏ Improving local storm water management❏ Integrating water supply and growth management❏ Redeveloping brownfields while protecting community

health

Smart Growth RoundtablesBring your questions and issues. ANJEC staff and otherexperts will offer advice and guidance on assuring thatmaster plans, zoning, site plan review, mixed use propos-als, affordable housing plans, build out analysis, carrying

capacity modeling, the State Plan and other state land usepolicies support protection of natural resources, environ-mental quality and public health.

Plus exhibits and opportunities to meet and talk to otherenvironmental commissioners and activists, environmentaland planning organizations, NJDEP and EnvironmentalAchievement Award winners.

For further information, contact ANJEC at 973-539-7547,or [email protected], or check out www.anjec.org/html/workshops.htm

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mental ConsultantsBiostar Associates, Inc.Clarke-Caton-HintzConectivECO SystemsEnvironmental Compli-

ance, Inc.Lewis Goldshore, Esq.Lewis S Goodfriend &

AssociatesLeggette, Brashears &

Graham, Inc.Merck & Co., Inc.

New Jersey-AmericanWater Co.

Norton Conservation Co.,Inc.

RTP EnvironmentalAssociates

Thonet AssociatesTrident Environmental

ConsultantsVan Note-Harvey Associa-

tionWakefern Food Corp.Jerome Wyckoff

Thanks to ANJEC�sBusiness Supporters

What�s Ailing Us?The Sprawl-Health Connection

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