Early this year, NJ Department of Environmental Protection awarded PlanSmart NJ a contract to write a report on how environmental protection might be enhanced in local land use decisionmaking if the value of the resources were properly understood. As the starting point for the project, DEP provided their 2007 study called, Valuing New Jersey’s Natural Capital, which attributed a dollar value to natural resources. Extensive research was conducted on relevant ecosystem goods and services projects and strategies already completed in this country and elsewhere. PlanSmart NJ analyzed the local and state land use planning processes currently used in New Jersey to determine appropriate intervention points to retain New Jersey’s natural capital. In addition, environmentalists, local planners and practitioners were invited to two roundtables and others were interviewed by phone to provide their ideas about what might work in New Jersey. PlanSmart NJ’s VP Planning Noelle Reeve, PP/AICP is the principal author on the project.
