New Jersey DEP to Study Economic Value of Ecosystems

The NJ DEP has been awarded $200,000 in grants to assess the economic value of services provided by New Jersey’s natural ecosystems.

The study will be funded by grants from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the William Penn Foundation, and will be among the first in the US to assess the value of the major ecosystems of an entire state. When complete, the analysis will include a comprehensive report on the value of New Jersey’s natural resources by land type and ecosystem service, including maps showing the level of that value at varying spatial scales. The natural resource assessment’s findings are expected to become an important reference point in land use debates and related policy decisions at the state and local levels. Work on the assessment will begin this spring. For more information, visit http://www.state.nj.us/dep/newsrel/2004/04_0013.htm.