Preservation trust needs support Nov. 6
One of life's eternal frustrations is that we seem to keep dealing with the same problems over and over again.

This time last year, many open space advocates supported a referendum introduced by the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders to link the county's yearly contribution for open space programs to the county's taxable ratables. It was a very good idea and the county's voters thought so, too. They said yes.

So when the same idea was introduced in the state Legislature - to permanently fund the New Jersey Preservation Trust Fund - conservationists hoped for similar approval so the preservation trust would be funded on a systematic basis year in and year out. Unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case, as the state's perennial budget problems muddied the issue and preservation trust funding kept ricocheting off the wall.

Funding the preservation trust is critical if we are to continue setting aside undeveloped lands for parks and open space, preserving farm lands and horse farms, protecting our state's drinking water, saving important cultural and historical landmarks, and keeping our rivers, streams, and beaches clean.

Unfortunately, the preservation trust ran out of funds this year and more than $450 million in recent municipal and nonprofit green acres applications have gone unfunded.

Without the preservation trust there won't be matching funds for the state's 21 counties or for the many municipalities with their own open space programs.

No preservation trust means no state funding programs for open space, farmlands, or historical preservation.

With 18,000 acres being bulldozed each year, the Garden State is being transformed into the asphalt state. As our population grows, how will we be able to preserve the necessary open spaces for the future as the land becomes increasingly scarce - and expensive?

Not even our state legislators could ignore these foreboding facts, so while they continue to wrangle over how to balance the budget, they have approved a referendum to temporarily fund the preservation trust for just one year. This isn't what we citizens want, since we have historically supported open space programs. But it is the best that we could get.

November 6, New Jersey's voters will be given the opportunity to authorize the preservation trust for just one more year by approving Question No. 3 on the ballot, and I am confident we will do just that. But because the referendum is a stop-gap measure, we'll have to deal with the same problem next year. Hopefully, by then a permanent solution will be hammered out and we'll have a steady funding program for open space.

In the meantime, please vote yes Nov. 6. And remind our state legislators that delays in open space programs today will permanently shortchange our children and grandchildren in the future.

Judith Stanley Coleman

President Monmouth Conservation

Foundation