For Immediate Release

April 1, 2008(609) 558-9100

Contact: Jeff Tittel (609) 558-9100

Sierra Club Calls Park Closings "Unconscionable"

New Jersey’s parks serve as places for people to spend vacation time with their families, enjoy nature, and exercise, providing a higher quality of life. Seventeen million people visit our 43 state parks every year, adding $3.9 billion to the state’s economy.

State parks are particularly important to New Jersey’s urban population and to poor and working families who do not have access to private facilities. "Too many of our politicians have vacation homes in LBI or the Hamptons," added Tittel. "They don’t understand how important these parks are to the people of New Jersey. At a time of high energy costs and a troubled economy, state parks are the public’s only option for vacations and recreation."

The parks that will be closing include:

Monmouth Battlefield State Park

an important Revolutionary War site where the state has been spending money on repairs and improvements ("We’ve been fixing the park so we can close it?" remarked Tittel)

High Point State Park

a symbol of New Jersey where, after a ten-year effort, the High Point Monument has finally been fixed, only to be closed to the public

Fort Mott, including Hancock House

("Where we had the Hancock House Massacre, we now have the State Park Massacre," commented Tittel)

Jenny Jump State Forest, Round Valley Recreation Area, Stephens State Park, Worthington State Forest, Bulls Island Recreation Area at D&R Canal State Park, and Shepherd Lake Recreation Area at Ringwood State Park

– the closure of these parks will leave only three swimming areas in northern and central New Jersey to service a population of 6 million

Brendan Byrne State Forest

an important camping area ("Most of the places that are closing are camping and swimming areas where people are able to recreate with their families," Tittel pointed out)

In addition, Parvin State Park will be closing and Washington Crossing State Park, where General Washington led the charge to create a new nation, will have reduced hours. All of these closings will put even more pressure on the parks that are staying open, as they have to serve a larger population with fewer resources.

While the Sierra Club understands that New Jersey has a budget crisis that must be addressed, these parks are being closed without looking at alternatives. There are many solutions for funding our parks, from a modest sales tax on outdoor recreation equipment to a tax on ATVs. Perhaps the best solution would be to charge utilities and other companies that lease public land fair market value. Currently, for example, large utilities that use public land to run power, gas, and fiber optic lines through pay just $1 an acres, 100 times less than the market rate. Renegotiating these leases could generate an additional $10 million a year, which would more than cover the approximately $3.5 million that will be saved by these park closings.

Tittel suggested another option: "If they want to save money, maybe they should close the governor’s houses at Island Beach State Park and Drumthwacket. Why should the governor get to use state parks and not the people of New Jersey?"

Environmentalists are also concerned that these closings represent the first step toward privatization of parks, with the state leasing or outright selling these lands to businesses or corporations for their use. Tittel even questions whether this is a deliberate attempt by the administration to get rid of public open spaces.

"The people of New Jersey have voted overwhelmingly to spend money to buy these parks," concluded Tittel. "Two years ago they overwhelmingly approved a referendum to fix the parks. Now the Corzine Administration is closing them. No governor at any time, even during the Great Depression, has ever closed a state park. There has always been an understanding that during troubled times, parks are a place for people to get together to enjoy their families and forget about their troubles. That this administration would close these parks now is unconscionable."