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STATE AWARDS 70 LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL GRANTS TOTALLING
$165,000
Seventy local environmental agencies will receive $164,500 in grants
from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that will
enhance projects of their own creation including open space planning,
natural resource inventories, trail designs, watershed protection, Geographic
Information System (GIS) mapping and educational programs.
The grants are being awarded to environmental commissions and soil conservation
districts through DEP’s Office of Business and External Affairs.
“These projects coordinate well with the state’s goals to preserve open
space, protect our watersheds and improve overall environmental quality
in New Jersey,” said Acting Governor Donald T. DiFranceso.
DEP Commissioner Bob Shinn noted, “Environmental commissions and soil
conservation districts play an important role in implementing grassroots
projects to protect environmentally sensitive lands and local waterways.”
The Environmental Services matching grants program helps local environmental
agencies to inventory and document environmental resources. Funds also
are used to develop practices to improve those resources and to prepare
and disseminate information about how the public can directly protect
the environment.
Examples of projects funded by this year’s grants include: streambank
restorations, wildlife enhancement gardens, open space inventories and
recreation plans, stream monitoring and stormwater planning, nature trails,
environmental newsletters, and natural resource mapping using the computerized
GIS.
Formal agreements between the grant recipients and DEP will be finalized
by the end of June. Since the program’s inception in 1990, nearly $2 million
has been awarded to environmental agencies statewide. For more information,
contact the DEP Environmental Services Program at (609) 984-0828.
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