Saving N.J. lands makes dollars and sense
This state we're in is blessed with a wealth of breathtaking beauty - beaches, forests, wetlands, farms and mountains - but if you've ever attended a local planning board meeting, you'll quickly see that very often these lands are called "vacant."

The natural values of wildlife habitat and the purifying values of wetlands and forests are not part of land development decisions.

Developers come armed with projections on tax ratables and new jobs to be created with the construction of another office building or townhouse complex.

Open space advocates cite the need for clean drinking water or other hard-to-quantify public benefits. But how about turning the debate and leveling the playing field in favor of the land?

Let's start by gaining a clear understanding of the true worth of our land and natural resources. The N.J. Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) recently completed "Valuing New Jersey's Natural Capital: An Assessment of the Economic Value of the State's Natural Resources."

The report assigns a "present value" to New Jersey's natural capital - those components of the natural environment that provide long-term benefits to society, like water, air and the biodiversity of natural systems.

The "present value" is estimated as the amount of money we would have to spend to replicate the functions of these natural systems. The report assesses a total direct economic value for each resource, representing the annual market value of commodities produced, adjusted to reflect the difference between the price consumers are willing to pay and the actual price. Report values are given in 2004 dollars.

Overall, the total value of New Jersey's natural capital is estimated to be a minimum of $20 billion per year. To replace that value New Jersey would need a $680 billion endowment!

Many of the benefits provided by natural capital come from the "eco-services" provided by forests, wetlands and lakes - dynamic complexes of plant, animal, and microorganism communities interacting as functional units. Natural ecosystems control flood waters, purify ground water supply, prevent soil erosion, pollinate plants, filter and treat wastewater, generate biodiversity and provide healthy recreation areas for people; all much more cheaply than engineered substitutes.

The study estimates the value of these "eco-services" alone to be between $8.6 billion and $19.8 billion per year (a present value of at least $288 to $660 billion). Fresh and saltwater wetlands, estuaries/tidal bays and forests accounted for over 90 percent of this estimated total value.

The report also assigns value to the goods produced by New Jersey's natural capital - estimated between $2.8 billion and $9.7 billion (a present value of $93 to $322 billion), mostly in the form of food and farms.

Will this new information and methodology for quantifying the value of natural lands make a difference? Will we treat our natural lands like the precious treasures they are? And will we recognize that spending money to preserve land is a critical investment in our state's economic viability?

What if the economic values of natural lands were included in the land development decisions of every planning board in New Jersey? These lands would be called "vacant" no more!

We're hoping the voters' answer to the November ballot question, to approve $200 million in bonds to fund preservation programs for one more year, will be a resounding "yes."

New Jerseyans have always approved funding the state's preservation programs by wide margins, even without this new economic information. If most New Jerseyans are already convinced without reducing the debate to dollars, this new information should make open space investment a "no-brainer."

Michele S. Byers

Executive Director N.J. Conservation Foundation

Far Hills