Bill > S3715

Introduced Session

This bill would direct the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), in consultation with the State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC), to adopt model wildlife management plans for use by local public entities that seek to acquire or develop land for recreational and conservation (open space) purposes, and it would further direct the SADC, in consultation with the DEP, to adopt model wildlife management plans for use by local public entities that are seeking funds to acquire and preserve farmland. The bill would further provide that, whenever the State or a local government unit seeks to acquire or develop lands for recreational or conservation purposes, or for farmland preservation purposes, using constitutionally dedicated moneys or Green Acres bond act moneys in whole or in part, it will be required to adopt and implement, at the subject property, one of the model wildlife management plans that have been cooperatively developed by the DEP and SADC under the bill's provisions. A local government unit would also be required to be implement the plan selected thereby at other parcels of land which have been acquired thereby, for recreational and conservation purposes, using constitutionally dedicated moneys or Green Acres bond act moneys in whole or in part. The bill would authorize a local government unit, in lieu of adopting one of the new model wildlife management plans developed under the bill, to submit to the DEP or SADC, as the case may be, a wildlife management plan that has been prepared by the local government unit prior to the bill's effective date, and to adopt and implement such pre-existing wildlife management plan, both at the subject property and at other relevant parcels of land owned thereby, upon the DEP's or SADC's approval thereof. Finally, the bill would amend the "Preserve New Jersey Act," P.L.2016, c.12 (C.13:8C-43 et seq.), in order to clarify that wildlife management activities or tasks, which are undertaken on preserved open space or farmland in accordance with a wildlife management plan adopted pursuant to the bill's provisions, are to be understood to constitute a type of "stewardship activity" for which Corporation Business Tax (CBT) revenues, which have been constitutionally dedicated for the stewardship of preserved open space and farmland, may be appropriated, allocated, and expended. Existing law does not currently require the owners or operators of publicly owned open space or preserved farmland to adopt or implement wildlife management plans for or on such properties; nor does it authorize the use of constitutionally dedicated CBT funds for wildlife management planning undertaken for the benefit of such parcels.

Committee Categories

Parker Space (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee (on 10/07/2024)

Official Document