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VINELAND - Another $400 million in the bank for the state's Green Acres program means open space preservation is still on the agenda in New Jersey.

Environmental groups say southern New Jersey continues to hold some of the most attractive land for preservation, thanks to its more rural nature and the relative affordability of large swaths of land in the region compared with the state's northern half.

Land at the top of preservationists' list includes:

•The Maurice River watershed, which has been federally designated as wild and scenic

•The coastal Delaware Bayshore region, replete with wetlands and old-growth forests

•The forested areas of central Cape May County and the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge's footprint;

•Indian Trail and Great Cedar swamps in Middle and Upper townships;

•Bear Swamp in Downe Township;

•Salem County's Burden Hill Forest, which several companies have targeted for sand-mining.

To give a sense of the scope of the land being sought, the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge has more than 10,000 acres within its footprint that are not yet part of the preserve, even with federal funding bolstering purchases in the refuge.

Conservationists say the state money - borrowing of which voters approved Tuesday in a referendum on the Green Acres program - will enable some of these purchases to happen.

"I think it definitely does change the dynamics," said Jay Laubengeyer, assistant New Jersey director for The Nature Conservancy. "It really does provide the seed funding for open-space preservation."

The conservancy plans to use Green Acres money to bolster purchases of about 600 acres in Cumberland and Sussex counties, including nearly 500 acres in eastern Vineland. With private funding providing the bulk of the money, the conservancy will buy the Vineland land from the Diocese of Camden in three chunks, with the first likely closing in March.

Some municipalities with large amounts of tax-exempt preserved land also are nearing financial thresholds that will increase the amount of money those towns receive from the state, a funding stream known as payment in lieu of taxes. Those towns include Fairfield Township, which has a coastline along the Delaware Bay, and Salem County's Quinton Township, which has seen recent battles over sand mining in and around Burden Hill Forest.

Matt Blake, the American Littoral Society's Delaware Bay manager, said the tanking real estate market has made land available that may not have been affordable in the past. That has evened the playing field with developers, he said, who historically have been able to outbid conservancies for undeveloped land.

"We tend to go after some of the same projects that developers go after because they're so God-awful scenic," Blake said.

Contact Daniel Walsh:

856-649-2074

DWalsh@pressofac.com

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