| DEP AWARDS
GRANTS TO LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCIES
(05/40) TRENTON -- The Department of Environmental Protection's
(DEP) Office of Local Government Assistance has awarded sixty-two
local environmental agencies a total of $150,000 in matching grants
from the state's Environmental Services Program (ESP).
The grants will be used for projects including open space planning,
natural resource inventories, trail designs, watershed protection,
geographic information systems (GIS) mapping, educational programs
and Sustainable Communities planning projects.
"This funding gives our local partners the ability to focus
much-needed attention on environmental concerns and allows them
the freedom to develop projects to address the specific needs
of the community," said Acting Governor Richard J. Codey.
The ESP matching grants help environmental agencies to monitor
and develop practices to improve resources and to prepare and
disseminate information about how the public can help protect
the environment.
"Local environmental partners are critical to effective
environmental stewardship," said DEP Commissioner Bradley
M. Campbell. "Environmental commissions and soil conservation
districts play an important role in implementing grass roots projects
to protect environmentally sensitive lands and local waterways
within their own borders."
The grants are being awarded to environmental commissions and
soil conservation districts. Formal agreements between the grant
recipients and the DEP will be finalized by the end of June, and
the projects will start immediately thereafter.
Since the program's inception in 1990, over $2 million has been
awarded to environmental agencies statewide. Grants range from
$1,000 to $2,500 and require a 50 percent match from the local
governing body.
For more information, contact the DEP's Environmental Services
Program at (609) 984-0828, or visit the Web site at www.state.nj.us/dep/esp
for a full list of recipients.
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