Category: Goal 10. Protected Natural Resources

Goal: Maintain New Jersey’s natural resource base.

New Jersey is not called the Garden State for nothing; we are a state rich in natural resources and once served as the agricultural source for New York and surrounding urban areas. Our beaches are also a significant resource, and have provided summer relaxation to people from all over the region for more than a century. While the Meadowlands were viewed largely as a barrier to transportation in the past, they and other wetlands are now recognized as important breeding grounds for aquatic animals and water filtration systems for rivers. We have allowed significant degradation of these resources over the past century, particularly in the last few decades. Close to 40% of the wetlands existing in colonial times have been altered, and farmland has dropped by more than half since the 1950s. While we are now working to protect the resources that remain, a great deal is left to do.

What indicators came out of the Sustainable State process, and how are we doing?

Total energy consumption has risen steadily in the past twenty years.
Total acres being farmed has declined steadily for the past half-century; however the last few years have shown this figure leveling off.
Ocean and bay beach closings due to unhealthful conditions dropped sharply in the early 1990s, and have continued to decline gradually since then.
Cumulative acres of preserved and developed land have both risen, reducing the remaining area of unrestricted, undeveloped land.
What might we add to future indicator reports?

The Department of Environmental Protection is planning increased stream buffer protection; we will want to track the results as it gets underway. The state is also strongly encouraging the cleanup and reuse of brownfields; tracking this effort will be of considerable interest. More broadly, while we have data on the physical state of our resources, we know less about the value of the services they provide. Monitoring their value would make it easier to show why protecting them is essential.