DEP's 2015 Green Acres Funding Includes More Than $6 Million for Projects in Morris County

More than $6 million in grants has been approved for county and municipal governments, and nonprofit and environmental groups for open space preservation projects in Morris County, as part of the 2015 state Green Acres funding awards announced by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Hedden County Park

The grants include $1.2 million for Morris County government, $3.7 million to nine Morris County municipalities, plus another $1.4 million to nonprofit groups for a series of projects throughout the county.

The Garden State Preservation Trust on June 10 approved the Christie Administration’s recommended list of $102.3 million in Green Acres open space and recreation projects, according to Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin. More than $93 million was earmarked for county and local government and nonprofit projects in all 21 counties. Another $9 million will be used for state projects.

Included is $1.2 million a planning incentive grant to the Morris County Park Commission. Combined with previous Green Acres dollars, the Park Commission now has a $2.3 million fund for 13 projects to add a total of 187 acres of buffer land to eight existing Morris County parks.

Included are Fosterfields Living Historical Park, Black River County Park, Hedden County Park, Loantaka Brook Reservation, Passaic River County Park, Tourne County Park, Waughaw Mountain Greenway, and the Jersey City Reservoir Trail.



Fosterfields Living Historical Park
 

The Green Acres awards also included $302,000 to Pequannock for a planning incentive grant; $500,000 to Long Hill for Passaic River Basin property acquisitions; $550,000 to Lincoln Park for its floodplain acquisition project; acquisition grants to Chester Township, $205,000; Hanover, $300,000; Harding, $550,000; Madison, $500,000; Mendham Township, $187,800; and Rockaway Township, $550,000. 

In addition, grants were awarded to the Harding Land Trust, $125,000; New Jersey Conservation Foundation, $350,000; NY-NJ Trail Conference $175,000; the Land Conservancy of New Jersey, $350,000; and Trust for Public Land, $350,000, for various open space, greenway and water supply protection projects that include parts of Morris County.

The Green Acres program was created in 1961. Working with public and private partners, Green Acres has directly protected more than 680,000 acres of open space and provided hundreds of recreational opportunities

To view the entire 2015 Green Acres funding list, visit: http://www.nj.gov/dep/greenacres/pdf/ga-awards.pdf

For more information on Morris County’s preservation efforts, visit: http://www.morrisplanning.org/divisions/prestrust/openspace/index.asp

For more information on the state Green Acres Program, please visit: http://www.nj.gov/dep/greenacres/