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Land Resources / News / New Jersey
NOAA may help states buy land, conserve it
Source: pressofAtlatnticCity.com, by LEE PROCIDA
January 16, 2009 The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a bill to authorize federal funding for preserving environmentally sensitive lands, especially areas along the coast. The bill now awaits approval in the House of Representatives.
The Coastal and Estuarine Land Preservation Act, written by Sens. Frank Lautenberg, D N.J., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., will allow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide federal funding until 2013 to states looking to acquire "Protecting our treasured natural resources, like New Jersey's Barnegat Bay marshlands, is vital to the ecological and economic health of our state and nation," Lautenberg said in a statement Thursday. "Our bill would help maintain the water quality, wildlife habitats, flood protection and recreational opportunities our coastal areas need to thrive for generations to come." Federal funds would be combined with state, local or private money to fund future acquisitions. Thursday's statement said the act is based on the Forest Legacy Program, which awards grants to states with approved coastal-management plans to acquire sensitive lands. The bill is supported by several conservation and trade organizations. Land acquisition has been an important goal for many groups and governments, especially in parts of New Jersey that have seen rapid development.
"The definitive way to save the environment is to conserve land," said William DeCamp Jr., chairman of the Ocean County nonprofit Save Barnegat Bay.
But conservationists would like to preserve much more land right now in the state than they have money to purchase it. "There's a really high demand out there because people want to have their lands preserved and there's less and less funding opportunities," said Helen Henderson, Atlantic Coast project manager for the American Littoral Society. "This is a really important bill." DeCamp said many problems with the Barnegat Bay estuary and others are due to overdevelopment nearby - the estuary suffers by not having natural buffers to filter runoff water. He said any act that helps preserve more land would aid conservation and restoration, and would be a wise way to spend taxpayers' dollars. "It's not like building a cruise missile, which once you fire it it's gone," he said. "It's quite the contrary - it's there forever, for everyone to enjoy." DeCamp also praised Lautenberg, calling him a "real friend of land conservation" throughout his long Senate career. Other organizations that support the act include New Jersey Audubon Society, American Littoral Society, NY/NJ Baykeeper, Association of National Estuary Programs, Trust for Public Land, The Nature Conservancy, The Ocean Conservancy and Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Read the complete article from pressofAtlatnticCity.com » |
