• NATURAL RESOURCES: OPEN SPACE INITIATIVE
  
  I. INTRODUCTION
  
  Approximately 46% of New Jersey's open land is forestland, over  1,800,000 acres. Additionally, it has been estimated that over 4 million trees occupy the
  space between the curb and sidewalk in our cities and towns. This natural resource provides  a broad range of values and benefits to the natural systems they support, the citizens and  industries that rely on them and the public and private ownerships to which they belong. The trees and forests help protect our watersheds, provide habitats for wildlife, recreation for our citizens, wood products for our economy, beauty to our landscapes and improvements to the air we breathe. These trees of both our rural and urban landscapes not only produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis, but also consume CO2 from the air in their life process. This CO2 is naturally fixed within trees into carbon which makes up 49% of their biomass. Trees are CO2 users and at the same time O2 producers, they are nature's land based counterweight for CO2 emissions.
  
  The trees and forests of New Jersey are critical to our greenhouse gas plan since these resources not only sequester carbon but they also mitigate the production of CO2 within our environment. Rural forests and urban trees in our state collectively absorb over 10 million tons of CO2 from the air each year. This plan would increase the amount, growth and productivity of our forests and over this foundation provide greater CO2 absorption from our air. Through sound and prudent management strategies our forests can continue to provide values to our society and environment as well as make significant improvements in carbon storage and CO2 reductions. These strategies can be divided into two general categories: management and technology.
  
  A. MANAGEMENT
  
  1. Afforestation of Marginal Cropland, Pasture and Riparian Zones
  
  Increasing forestland acreage on open land not being productively utilized could provide substantial GHG benefits by planting trees on these properties. Tree species, particularly productive in sequestering carbon and/or fixing soil nitrogen, could be selected to obtain maximum GHG advantages per acre. Federal cost sharing  funds are presently available, through Forest Service and Natural Resource  Conservation Service (NRCS) cost-share programs that support the establishment of forest plantations. These funds could be utilized to support any GHG tree planting initiatives developed. A modest afforestation program of 550,000 trees would capture approximately 41,500 tons of CO2 per year. Among these strategies are:
  
• Promote and develop a tree planting initiative for marginal crop,  pastureland and riparian zones to achieve an additional 250,000 planted trees per year. Additional planting stock could be produced and provided from the existing state tree seedling nursery in Jackson.
• Encourage adherence to P.L. 1993, Chapter 106. This Act concerns the replacement of destroyed trees on certain forested areas owned or maintained by state entities commonly referred to as the "No Net Loss"Act.
• Update existing tree planting pamphlets and information to insure proper optimum spacing, species and positioning of tree plantations established to achieve maximum GHG advantages.
• Establish and maintain state and federal funding to support tree
  planting.
• Produce a New Jersey guide for reforesting riparian lands.
  
    2. Tree Planting in Urban and Suburban Areas
  
  Trees positively affect these areas by shading and cooling, reducing wind, capturing airborne particulates and mitigating GHG. Proper placement of trees and the use of  correct tree species can substantially reduce energy needed to heat or cool urban environments as well as residential settings. The energy conservation  planting of trees in urban and suburban settings not only reduce energy use, but also provides the positive C/CO2/O2 GHG effects. If only 1% of New Jersey residences utilized energy saving tree planting techniques to achieve a 10% reduction in their energy  consumption, over 260,000 tons of CO2 per year would be saved.
• Create energy conservation tree planting guidelines to provide homeowner, commercial and contractor advice for landscape plantings that will conserve energy.
• Generate funding support to encourage residential and commercial dwelling tree plantings consistent with energy conservation guidelines.
• Provide technical assistance to municipalities in the development of local tree management plans and develop guidelines for an "energy conservation" chapter within each plan.
• Increase community forestry tree planting "Green Communities" program funds presently available to support tree planting in urban environments.
• Increase Recycling of Urban Tree Removals.
  
  3. Increase Recycling of Urban Tree Removals
  
  Urban tree removals can be utilized by sawmills that process logs into a broad range of wood products. These urban source trees which at times require removal
  due to disease, death, roadway construction and hazard reduction can, through their utilization as sawlogs, lessen the demand for logs produced from forest
  grown trees. Urban log use in this fashion can sequester the carbon stored within the tree's wood for a longer period of time as a useful and economical wood product. This conservation and recycling strategy can generate GHG advantages by displacing some forest log source demand with urban tree removal supplies. A recent New Jersey survey conducted by the New Jersey Forest Service has found that 37 million board feet of urban/suburban trees are presently classified as dead and dying and as such are removal candidates. If only 500,000 broad feet (BF) of this volume were recycled into lawn products, over 31,000 tons of CO2 would be saved.
• Reprint the "Guidebook for Recycling Municipal Tree Removals" and distribute to all New Jersey municipalities, shade tree commissions and tree 
  service companies.
• Continue direct service and assistance in the area of recycling municipal trees providing marketing guidance, product specifications and process recommendations to entities interested in the opportunities of municipal tree removal.
  
    4. Reduce Forest Loss to Non-Forest Use
  
  Conversion of forestland to non-forest use usually means permanent loss of all or a substantial part of live biomass and an organic matter loss in soils and
  the forest floor. When these acreages are lost as O2 producers and CO2 consumers, negative GHG scenarios result. Protecting and conserving forests by controlling their loss to non-forest use can have a positive result in the sequestration of carbon, absorption of CO2 and production of oxygen within this natural system. Five thousand five hundred tons of CO2 emissions per year could be saved if only 1,000 acres of forest were saved from conversion to non-forest use.
• As in the afforestation segment, encourage adherence to existing P.L. 1993, Chapter 106, No Net Loss Act on state-owned lands.
• Increase the existing amount of state-owned forestland through purchase and acquisition by insuring the availability of funds to at least double the
  acreage of forestland in state government ownership.
• Encourage the retention of privately owned forestland by providing tax-related incentives.
  
  5. Improved Forest Management
  
    Professional management of forestland can result in maximum stocking and productivity of forestland acreage in our state. This increased productivity can
    maximize the GHG benefits that forestland is capable of producing. Silvicultural practices to increase tree growth, adjust species composition and insure
    optimum stocking will yield beneficial GHG ratios on existing forestland resources of our state. CO2 benefits from improved forest productivity through forest
    management could yield over 10,000 tons of CO2 savings per year.
  
• Promote and develop increased guidance of forest management on privately owned woodlands provided by certified professional foresters.
• Insure the application and use of best management practices for forestry on any woodland properties where the harvesting or felling is a recommendation in management.
• Increase the amount and use of federal cost-sharing funds available to support timber stand improvement practices.
• Increase resources available for the preparation and implementation of Forest Stewardship plans on private and public forestlands in New Jersey.
  
  
    6. Reduction of Waste in Wood Processing
  
  Maximize the efficiency and utilization of wood as it is processed into products. Every tree, log, board and product if utilized properly during its processing can by virtue of efficiency of conversion provide a conservative effect on our forest resources. Waste reduction techniques in processing are available throughout all steps of primary and secondary processing. The application and use of these techniques can help conserve forests as well as reduce energy consumption in the conversion of raw wood into products needed. GHG advantages can be an added value. Only 3% improvements in primary and secondary wood processing yields would produce approximately 5,000 tons of CO2 savings per year.

• Conduct training programs for loggers concerning improved felling and backing techniques to minimize loss and insure maximum utilization of harvested trees.

• Provide program of services to sawmills and secondary wood processors analyzing existing milling practices and providing improvement recommendations tailored to company equipment and personnel capabilities.
  
    B. TECHNOLOGY
  
    1. Substitute Renewable Biomass for Fossil Fuel Energy
  
  Increased use of renewable sources of "green energy" can reduce the use of fossil fuels. Highly efficient and clean systems of residential, industrial and
  commercial scale wood energy technology exist and have found increasing use throughout the country. When biomass is grown sustainably and used to displace fossil fuels, net carbon emissions are avoided since the CO2 released in converting biomass to energy is sequestered within the regrowing biomass through photosynthesis. There is no such advantage with fossil fuel energy since the fuels - coal, oil and natural gas, the  residuals of evolution - only make a net carbon increase to the greenhouse gas equation.

• Provide a program of service in New Jersey in cooperation with the Coalition of Northeastern Governors Regional Biomass Program to support and develop in-state biomass energy opportunities. These biomass energy services encompass residential, industrial, transportation and commercial sectors. Conservatively, three million tons of CO2 emissions from fossil fuels per year could be replaced with targeted use of biomass energy technology in residential and selected commercial energy applications.

• Encourage the application of sustainable biomass energy technology within state-owned facilities and institutions.

• Support large-scale commercial biomass energy production technology including cofiring of wood with coal at existing coal fired power plants.
  
  
  2. Increase Paper and Wood Recycling
  
  Recycling wood fiber and wood products may reduce CO2 emissions in two ways - by reducing the area harvested to provide virgin fiber and also by using
  less energy to convert recycled products versus growing, harvesting and processing virgin fiber. Wood fiber and wood products are remarkably recyclable. Paper can be reused to remanufacture paper as well as many other reprocessed and composite products.  Wood which has outlived its usefulness as a particular product can be remanufactured to other reconstituted products. This extended useful life through recycling has significant greenhouse gas benefits and can be accomplished by:

• Improve mixed paper recycling and increase recycling programs available for small businesses.

• Renew funding support for state recycling efforts and increase the use of recycled wood products at state institutions and agencies.
  
  
  Increase New Woody Tree Growth 0.52
  
    SECTOR SUB TOTAL 0.52
  
    II. OPEN SPACE INITIATIVE: GOVERNOR WHITMAN\'S PROGRAM TO PROTECT 1
    MILLION ACRES OF OPEN SPACE
  
  Open space preservation helps to protect New Jersey's rich natural, historic, and cultural heritage. It ensures that animal and plant habitats are protected and that areas of scenic beauty and agricultural importance are preserved. It safeguards streams and water supplies and provides opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Open space preservation lies at the core of the quality of life of New Jersey's communities. In addition, open space, especially forested land, acts as carbon sink where CO2 is absorbed and O2 is released. In November 1998, New Jersey voters endorsed the million-acre goal by constitutionally dedicating funds for open space preservation. The constitutional amendment allows New Jersey to seaside $98 million per year for ten years of state sales tax revenues and to allocate  up to $1.0 billion in bond proceeds to preserve open space and historic resources.
  
  In addition, nearly $100 million a year is expected to be spent by local governments for similar preservation activities. The bulk of these local dollars will be
  raised as the result of voter approved dedicated tax revenues.