Contact: Mayor Ed Campbell FOR RELEASE

Phone: (856) 783-6655 19 November 5:15 PM

NJ DEP SET TO ANNOUNCE

ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS

FOR ABUNDANT OPEN SPACE: Gibbsboro

On Tuesday November 19 at 5:15 pm, in the Atlantic City Convention Center, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) will announce the recipients of its coveted NJ DEP Environmental Excellence Awards. The Borough of Gibbsboro has been informed that it will receive the Environmental Excellence Award for Abundant Open Space.

The awards are issued annually by the DEP to corporations, municipalities, counties, boards, commissions, and citizen groups that demonstrate outstanding and/or innovative environmental stewardship. Award categories include Abundant Open Space, Clean Air, Clean and Plentiful Water, Healthy Ecosystems, Innovative Technology, Safe and Healthy Communities, Environmental Stewardship, and Environmental Leadership.

Nominees for the Abundant Open Space Award must “demonstrate a commitment to and experience in the preservation of open space that protects land from future development; especially preservation efforts that provide the foundation for maintaining healthy ecosystems and sustainable communities.“ Nominees are judged against criteria that include documented environmental benefit, meeting needs, leadership/innovation, coverage and longevity, education and outreach, replicability and program economics.

Gibbsboro’s nomination was based upon its extensive greenway and open space plan called the Gibbsboro Greenway, which now includes 25% of the municipality’s land area. The greenway includes all stream corridors within Gibbsboro and on its borders, and links municipal parks, schools and government facilities within the town. Gibbsboro is presently constructing an extensive trail and bikeway system within the greenway. The Gibbsboro Greenway represents one of the largest, contiguous municipally owned parks within Camden County.

Gibbsboro has used numerous funding mechanisms to build its greenway including donations, subdivision and site plan concessions, NJ DEP Green Acres, Camden County Open Space Trust, NJ Natural Trails Program, Federal Lands to Parks Program, Community Development Block Grants, Camden County Star Grants, and the NJ DOT Transportation trust Fund. In November 2001 Gibbsboro voters approved a referendum to create an open space tax by nearly a four (4) to one (1) ratio, one of the largest in NJ history. Passage of the referendum allowed Gibbsboro to receive 50% funding for acquisitions through the planning incentive program of the NJ Green Acres program. The planning incentive program was modeled after Gibbsboro’s Greenway submission to the traditional green acres program in 1994.

The Gibbsboro Greenway is a key component of the evolving River to Bay Greenway that the Trust for Public Land is developing. That greenway will link the Delaware River to the Barnegat Bay via a network of open space across Southern New Jersey.

Web Sites

For more information about Gibbsboro visit www.gibbsborotownhall.com.

For more information on the River to bay Greenway visit www.tpl.org.

For more information on NJ Environmental Commissions and open space preservation visit www.anjec.org.

For more information on the NJ conservation foundation visit www.njconservation.org.

NJ DEP Contact: Marybeth Brenner (Office of the Commissioner) 609 292-2885.

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