Bill > S4578

Introduced Session

This bill would direct the Department of Environmental Protection, within one year of the bill's enactment, to ensure that prescribed burns are conducted annually on certain minimum acreage in the pinelands area, and elsewhere in the State. The prescribed burns are to take place on minimum acreage beginning with 25,000 acres in the pinelands area and an additional 10,000 acres Statewide and increasing over a period of six years to a final total of 50,000 acres in the pinelands area and 20,000 acres Statewide. A prescribed burn may be conducted by the State, the federal government, or a landowner or lessee with approval by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to existing law. The bill would also require all relevant State agencies involved in environmental planning and land use management to incorporate the Statewide prescribed burn goal into all plans, programs, and surveys, whether they are Statewide or local initiatives, or undertaken in conjunction with the federal government. The bill would require all prescribed burns throughout the State to occur between the months of November and March. According to the New Jersey State Forest Fire Service, prescribed burns are generally conducted during late winter months to reduce the amount of smoke produced and because weather conditions tend to be more predictable for safer controlled fires. Under this bill, prescribed burns would be required to be conducted and completed prior to prime wildfire season, which is typically during the months of April and May in New Jersey. A prescribed burn is the deliberate ignition and controlled open burning of wildland fire fuels to attain resource management objectives, such as public safety, wildfire control, ecological, silvicultural, agricultural, or other natural resource management goals.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Parker Space (R)*,  Latham Tiver (R), 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee (on 06/05/2025)

Official Document