O26 Michelle Byers NJ Environmental Foundation Presentation

Choice 2: Preserve at least an additional 500K acres AND make a comprehensive investment in the environmental health and quality of New Jersey’s cities, towns, and urban communities. STREET TREES CAMDEN CITY (COURTESY NJ TREE FOUNDATION) STOKES STATE FOREST, SUSSEX COUNTY (NJ SKYLANDS.COM) SMALL TOWN NJ (SOURCE UNKNOWN)

CLIMATE CHANGE Sea level rise and flooding. HURRICANE SANDY WEBSITE PICTURE

ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE Systemic Environmental Injustice.

BIODIVERSITY Loss of biodiversity. WHITE- TAILED DEER (COURTESY US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE) LONG -EARED BAT (COURTESY US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE)

PEOPLE & NATURE LIBERTY STATE PARK (COURTESY NJ DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION)

NEW YORK Y | Atlantic Coast NEW YORK | | Delaware Bay Zz Greater Sourlands i Highlands Planning Area | | Highlands Preservation Area HD Pine Barrens HON Ridge & vattey BERGEN DD urban corridor HE Western Piedmont WARREN County Boundary Remaining Lands Ei Unregulated OD Regulates =} County Boundary SUSSEX ? Long island UNION Island HUNTERDON = staten ‘SOMERSET ‘slong Fat MIDDLESEX MERCER PENNSYLVANIA PENNSYLVANIA %. BURLINGTON . - ACAMDEN, GLOUCESTER ATLANTIC CUMBERLAND DELAWARE DELAWARE AVAILABLE LANDS REGIONS wipes (ei mer ec (te gree rn tater tn prevent the mae oto ate ofemate, Ri Camere torn wear fo wera many oT (ocean Rents egroch ahi ty od olegabany fo omar cs Copyright:(c) 2014

Ecosystem Services: • Protect and cleanse drinking water supplies • Improve air quality • Protect wildlife habitat and biodiversity • Reduce flooding and storm water runoff • Protect soils • Sequester carbon • Provide locally-grown foods • Offer outdoor recreation opportunities and scenic beauty • Reduce the "heat island" effect in urban areas • Support human health, healing, community connections, and quality of life • Provide access to nature and open space, which play a critical role in human health and well-being • Provide multiple economic benefits and cost savings • Provide buffers from impacts of adjacent development • Buffer and increase resilience from climate change impacts • Inspire awe, curiosity, and a sense of connection to something greater than ourselves.

Today the state’s over 1.4 million acres of available lands neither preserved or developed, are currently providing ecosystem services. They are filtering and storing drinking water supplies, controlling and mitigating flooding, supplying local foods, sequestering carbon, and providing wildlife habitat and clean air. If these lands are developed, the basic environmental functions and services they provide will cease, leading to an erosion of environmental quality. With a growing population, the need for preserving at least half of the most environmentally critical of these lands is essential.

Factors for Determining Suitability for Preservation • Location, including proximity and/or connectivity to other preserved lands • Lack of or deficit of preserved open space in the community • Potential for linkages and wildlife habitat connections • Potential for connecting large landscape and creating interconnected open space systems • Natural resource features, including forests, wildlife habitat, wetlands, tributary streams, and meadows. • Degree of threat from development, deforestation, habitat loss, climate impacts, biodiversity loss • Potential for increasing community access to open space, “Nature in your Neighborhood” • Ecosystem services provided by the land, such as flood control and water quality protection • Relationship to the smart growth policies of the NJ State Development and Redevelopment Plan • Competing demands for other public purposes, e.g. housing, tax ratables, public facilities • Community goals and plans

Indicators for smart growth under the New Jersey State Development and Redevelopment Plan 1. Growth in Smart Growth Planning Areas 2. Growth in Designated Centers 3. Growth as Redevelopment and Renewal 4. Compact, Mixed-Use Development 5. Infrastructure-Connected Growth 6. Environmentally Low-Impact Development 7. Climate Resilient Development 8. Protection of Open Space and Natural Resource The proposed development is not consistent with the policy indicators of the NJ State Development and Redevelopment Plan.