Sitting on $1.1 billion while New Jersey gets paved over: Spend the green in Green Acres funding

Broken promises on open space funding, more sprawl, more flooding, and parks left behind

Green Acres and New Jersey’s open space programs are among the most popular and successful government programs in the state’s history. Time and again, people have voted overwhelmingly to fund these programs. New Jersey voters were promised that when they approved dedicated funding for open space, farmland preservation, and parks, the money would be used to protect land, stop sprawl, and improve the quality of life.

Instead, the state is sitting on more than $1.1 billion in unspent and unappropriated funds while development continues to pave over forests, wetlands, and farms, making flooding worse, driving sprawl, and leaving parks falling apart. Swimming areas close, and parks and historic buildings are deteriorating.

This is not just a budgeting problem.

It is a failure of priorities.

Voters approved dedicated funding so we could preserve land before it gets developed. Instead, the money is sitting in accounts while bulldozers are working overtime.

$1.1 billion sitting idle while land is lost

According to current funding balances across preservation programs, New Jersey has more than $1,156,996,000 sitting in different accounts that has not been fully used.

• New Jersey Department of Environmental Protestion total: $703,230,000
• State Agriculture Development Committee total: $419,405,000
• New Jersey Historic Trust total: $34,361,000

Across all agencies:

• Corporate Business Tax unappropriated: $406,386,000
• Corporate Business Tax appropriated but unexpended: $544,687,000
• Bond/trust unexpended: $205,923,000

That is more than $1 billion sitting on the sidelines while New Jersey keeps losing land to development.

We should be preserving land faster than ever.

Instead, the state is moving slowly while the bulldozers move faster.

Legislators can always get funding for Christmas tree items, but without money for open space, the bulldozers win.

Sprawl is continuing while preservation stalls

From 2015 to 2020 alone, New Jersey added more than 18,000 acres of developed land, about 3,700 acres per year. Based on aerial photos, this likely undercounts development because trees, wetlands, and even lawns that are part of development are still counted as open space. With the loss of 6,000 acres of farmland, the actual figure is probably 10,000 to 14,000 acres per year.

At the same time:

• Nearly 1,936 acres of upland forest are lost every year
• Wetlands continue to disappear
• In 2024 alone, about 3,200 acres of natural forest were lost
• 6,000 acres of farmland continue to be converted to development every year

New Jersey already has some of the worst flooding in the country, and every acre of forest, farm, or wetland that gets paved over makes the problem worse.

Open space is not just about scenery.

It is about flood protection, clean drinking water, climate resilience, and public health.

Yet the state is sitting on the money that could help stop the damage.

Preserving open space and stopping overdevelopment can help protect New Jersey from more pollution, more flooding, and spending tax dollars on building schools, roads, and infrastructure. This can’t happen if you sit on the money.

Parks are falling apart while funding sits unused

The situation is even worse for parks.

In 2003, there was a push for a dedication of Corporate Business Tax funding for capital improvements and repairs in state parks and urban parks. It was $15 million per year at first and would grow to $30 million per year. However, open space acquisition funds were running low, and Gov. Christie would not raise taxes. So the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters and the land trust worked with Christie to divert the money for parks capital and urban park funding to land acquisition in wealthy communities, and non-governmental organization stewardship/logging over park maintenance capital.

Underfunding of state and urban parks is part of environmental justice and the benign neglect of people of modest means and communities of color.

New Jersey has an estimated $725 million maintenance backlog for existing parks and more than $1.3 billion in total capital needs for repairs, improvements, and new park development.

Urban communities need parks.

In New Jersey, state parks and urban parks represent the democratic ideal that a park is for everyone, no matter who you are, where you live, your race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or income.

Families picnic there. Kids play ball. People bike, fish, birdwatch, walk the waterfront, and enjoy nature with their families.

It shows what America looks like when public land truly belongs to the public.

Environmental justice communities need parks. Urban areas in New Jersey have only about 25% of the parks and open spaces that are needed.

Children need safe places to play. Swimming areas are closed, and facilities are shut down. Historic buildings are falling apart.

Instead, funding sits in accounts while playgrounds rust, trails erode, and park facilities close.

The problem is our legislators all have houses down the shore and do not go to or understand the importance of parks.

For many elected officials, and even some land trusts, the vision of open space is looking at trees but not seeing anyone who has to work for a living.

We need to be investing in parks and families, not hoarding money.

We promised to preserve half the state, but we are running out of time and land

“In 2002, I was quoted as saying, ‘New Jersey will be the first state to reach build-out.’”

New Jersey has set a goal of preserving 50% of the state’s land mass.

We have protected more than 1.5 million acres, but at the current pace of development, experts warn the state could reach build-out by the middle of this century.

That means every remaining piece of open land will either be preserved or paved.

If we keep delaying funding, we will lose land we can never get back.

The longer we wait, the more expensive preservation becomes, and the more damage is done to our environment.

Dedicated funding was supposed to fix this, but it hasn’t

Voters approved dedicating part of the Corporate Business Tax to preservation so funding would be stable and reliable.

Instead, the state has allowed money to pile up without being spent fast enough to keep up with development pressures.

We are seeing warehouse sprawl, highway expansion, and overdevelopment moving faster than preservation programs.

That defeats the whole purpose of dedicated funding.

This is a choice, not a shortage

New Jersey does not have a lack of money for open space.

New Jersey has a lack of political will.

We have the funds.

We have the programs.

We have the need.

What we do not have is leadership willing to make preservation, parks, and flood protection a priority.

To keep New Jersey green, we must spend the green in Green Acres

The state must:

• Fully appropriate all open space funds for projects
• Speed up Green Acres, farmland, and historic preservation approvals
• Fund the state parks capital plan
• Invest in urban parks and park maintenance
• Protect areas targeted for development first
• Target environmentally sensitive areas, including forests, wetlands, and floodplains
• Stop using delays and bureaucracy as excuses; add staff to Green Acres and SADC

Use the money now before the land is gone

Because once land is paved over, it is gone forever.

And every year we sit on the money, New Jersey becomes more crowded, more flooded, and more overdeveloped.

We promised to protect this state.

Now we have to keep that promise.

“Land, they just don’t make it anymore.” — Will Rogers