"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.
