Help local governments set and achieve land conservation goals
Local land preservation efforts are critical to meeting statewide land preservation goals, but they can benefit from the State's technical and financial support. The State can support local efforts by inventorying open space and natural areas, as well as providing mapping support, technical information and assistance, training and matching funds that are contingent on demonstrated local leadership and a commitment to land conservation.
States can provide a variety of technical and financial assistance to local preservation efforts. They can:
- provide local governments with the technical information and maps generated by an open space inventory (see Policy #2, Identify natural lands and open space for preservation, in this section) in order to help localities make informed decisions about which lands should be preserved and which might be targeted for development.
- create a public-private partnership to coordinate, market, and deliver training and technical assistance to help municipalities plan for and fund conservation.
- provide training and matching funds to local governments to support environmental restoration of degraded lands that have been identified as a high priority for establishing a functional green infrastructure network.
- encourage counties to work with non-profit organizations, private companies, and citizen groups on land conservation initiatives. The State could provide technical assistance and financial support (contingent on a local match) to help every county establish a land trust.
- provide technical assistance and financial support (contingent on a local match) to help every county establish a land trust.
- make state financial assistance to local governments contingent on demonstrated smart growth commitments by localities such as zoning that supports smart growth and local funding that is directed toward it, and so forth (see Action #8, Integrate the state's growth criteria into discretionary funding decisions, in the Comprehensive Approaches section).
- New Jersey’s Green Acres Program
New Jersey’s Green Acres program provides grants and loans to local governments that have an open space plan and have enacted an open space tax. The program also gives grants to nonprofit organizations to acquire land for public recreation and conservation.
— New Jersey’s Green Acres Program