Looking ahead, looking back...

Another transition team is busy laying the groundwork for a new administration in Trenton. What are the implications for public history? Few people realize that our most important state owned and operated Historic Sites were devised to the Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Parks and Forestry, where they have languished for decades, ever diminishing in their visibility and care. While we look forward in anticipation and hope to what may come, perhaps we should also look back, and consider how we got where we are today.

For historical interest, consider what the "environmental policy group" of the last gubernatorial transition team concluded four years ago. The following extracts from the Final Report of the Environment Transition Policy Group, submitted to Governor-Elect Jon Corzine on January 10, 2006, make interesting reading. Even though many of New Jersey's most significant historic sites are "managed" by the Department of Environmental Protection, the word "historic" is not to be found in the text, even under the misleading heading of "Prioritize Eco-Tourism and Heritage Tourism." Equally revealing, ignoring the fact the DEP's Division of Parks & Forestry "administers" the largest system of historic sites and museum collections in the state (and one of the largest in the Middle Atlantic States), no historians, historic site administrators, museum experts, or professionals qualified by experience in marketing heritage tourism destinations were included on the team that prepared the report.

Most disappointingly, perhaps, while there is mention of stewardship of the "state's land," there is no suggestion of any commitment to protect a single splinter of significant historic resources upon that land---I believe the results of this "oversight" are broadly evident. While there is perhaps justifiable outrage that "farmland assessment forestry owners are forced to cut down tress to be eligible for the program," not even a verbal yawn was expended on the deteriorating condition of historic resources across public lands or stagnating bureaucratic indifference to the State Historic Sites.

In my opinion, state government owns nothing---it merely administers what truly belongs to the people of New Jersey. Imagine where we might be today if this document had recommended: "the Governor should dedicate particular historic resources as “Forever Historic,” to protect physical evidence of our common heritage so valuable in its shared meanings that it should never be allowed to deteriorate."

The full report is available at http://www.njbia.org/pdf/env022306.pdf

Here are relevant extracts:

PRIORITIZE ECO-TOURISM AND HERITAGE TOURISM

Create A “New Jersey Natural Heritage And Cultural Treasures” Designation. Create a “NJ Natural Heritage and Cultural Treasures” designation, applying to areas with unique and threatened environmental resources. These “treasures” should be based on the DEP’s rich, extant spatial data sets including mapping in the Wildlife Action Plan, the Landscape Project, Important Bird and Birding Areas, Garden State Greenways, Heritage Priority Sites, critical fish and shellfish areas and nurseries, land cover (e.g. large estuarine marshes)and existing federal and international designations. These
designations should be used to focus acquisition, stewardship, access, landowner incentives and natural resource based planning. Furthermore, the Governor should dedicate particular parcels of open space as “Forever Wild,” for land so valuable in its natural state that it should never be diverted.

Institute A Moratorium On Horseshoe Crab Harvest To Protect The Red Knot. Protection of the Red Knot requires the immediate institution of a moratorium on the 2006 horseshoe crab harvest. The moratorium should persist until a management plan is developed and approved by a peer-review panel including shorebird ornithologists and horseshoe crab ecologists. The State should explore economic compensation for those who can document that they have been adversely impacted while continuing its leadership in the research and management of these economically important species.

Widen Public Access To New Jersey’s Public Lands. The Policy Group recommends that the
Governor demands that the public is able to benefit from any projects spending taxpayer funds for passive or active recreation. The access provisions must take special note of the need to protect environmentally sensitive areas. A wider plan for public access to the state’s recreational resources should include mapping and guides of potential and existing access points and acquisition priorities.

Federal funding for widening access to natural resources is available under the Birding and Wildlife Watching Trails Program – NJ DOT has been successful at receiving these funds in the past. Wildlife watching generates $2.4 billion annually in the State.

BECOME A STEWARD OF THE STATE’S LAND

Start A Statewide Stewardship Initiative To Increase Protection And Attract Federal Dollars. A statewide stewardship initiative is fiscally sound policy that will protect the investment of taxpayers and attract federal matching funds. Stewardship practices implemented on most public land in New Jersey are eligible for up to 75% cost share from USDA and USFWS through landowner incentives. New Jersey gets a smaller share of these funds than other States, and struggles to spend its portion. Programs such as the New Jersey Habitat Incentive Team (NJ HIT), that seek to improve coordination
and cooperation among all public and private stakeholders, are critical.

Provide A Stable Funding Source For Land Stewardship. The Policy Group recommends that you develop a stable funding source to preserve the value of New Jersey’s investment in open space and to ensure that preserved natural and cultural areas are accessible. One potential funding source would be the renewal of the Garden State Preservation Trust. The value of the State’s investment in open space has decreased with overabundant wildlife populations, and the proliferation of invasive plants, insects
and diseases.

Promote Non-Lethal Wildlife Control. The Policy Group recommends that you promote existing laws to reduce human conflict with wildlife. As Governor, the Group encourages you to continue feeding bans, and expand awareness and availability of tools to reduce interaction between humans and wildlife, such as bear-proof garbage cans.

Reward Farmers For Maintaining Forested Land. Support legislation to allow landowners to receive farm assessment on woodlands for natural resource conservation and habitat protection, under a forestry plan. Currently under farmland assessment forestry owners are forced to cut down tress to be eligible for the program.

Members of the Environmental Policy Group Who Have Signed on to the Above Report

Valorie Caffee (Co-Chair), Organizing Director, NJ WEC
Tom Gilmore (Co-Chair), President, NJ Audubon Society
Eileen Swan (Co-Chair), Member of Highlands Commission/Former Mayor,Lebanon Twp
Wyatt Earp, IBEW
Mort Goldfein Attorney, Saiber Schlesinger Satz & Goldstein
Dr. Sunil K. Garg, President, EcoShelf Group
Bob Medin,a Engineering Consultant, Medina Consultants
Joe Morris, Interfaith Community Organization
Rev. Willie Anderson, Chairman, Camden Churches Organized for People
Rick Engler, Director, Work Environment Council
Andy Willner, Executive Director, NY/NJ Baykeeper
Cate Litvack, Executive Director, Crossroads of the American Revolution Association, Inc.
Jeff Tittel, Chapter Director, Sierra Club of New Jersey
Sherry Ramsey, Humane Society of the U.S.
Tom Fote, Legislative Director, Jersey Coast Anglers Association
Bill Sheehan, Hackensack Riverkeeper
Dr. Stephen J. Souza President, Princeton Hydro, LLC
Ella Filippone, Executive Director, Passaic River Coalition
Tim Dillingham, Executive Director, American Littoral Society
Sharon Finlayson, Chair, New Jersey Environmental Federation
Lisa Garcia, Assistant Attorney General New York State/ Fmr Assistant Clinical Professor,Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic
Stewart Abrahams, Practice Director for Remediation at Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure Inc.

Members of the Environmental Policy Group

Valorie Caffee, (Co-Chair), Organizing Director, NJ WEC
Tom Gilmore, (Co-Chair), President, NJ Audubon Society
Eileen Swan, (Co-Chair), Member of Highlands Commission/Former Mayor,Lebanon Twp
Dr. Sunil K. Garg, President, EcoShelf Group
Bob Medina, Engineering Consultant, Medina Consultants
Joe Morris, Interfaith Community Organization
Rev. Willie Anderso,n Chairman, Camden Churches Organized for People
Rick Engler, Director, Work Environment Council
Andy Willner, Executive Director, NY/NJ Baykeeper
Cate Litvack, Executive Director, Crossroads of the American Revolution Association, Inc.
Jeff Tittel, Chapter Director, Sierra Club of New Jersey
Sherry Ramsey, Humane Society of the U.S.
Tom Fote, Legislative Director, Jersey Coast Anglers Association
Bill Sheehan, Hackensack Riverkeeper
Dr. Stephen J. Souza, President, Princeton Hydro, LLC
Ella Filippone, Executive Director, Passaic River Coalition
Tim Dillingham, Executive Director, American Littoral Society
Sharon Finlayson Chair, New Jersey Environmental Federation
Dr. James Sinclair, Former Vice President, New Jersey Business & Industry Association
Mort Goldfein, Attorney, Saiber Schlesinger Satz & Goldstein
Prof. Robert Willig, Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton
Wyatt Earp, IBEW
Lisa Garcia, Assistant Attorney General New York State/Fmr Assistant Clinical Professor, Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic
James Hughes Dean, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
Richard Hluchan, Attorney, Ballard, Spahr, Andrews and Ingersoll
Stewart Abrahams, Practice Director for Remediation at Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure Inc.