New Jersey preservation trust backs $7.7 million in no-match grants for five nonprofits on state land
The Garden State Preservation Trust approved more than $88 million for land, parks and flood buyouts on Oct. 21. A special Green Acres round, with no 50 percent match, goes to nonprofits that work on state parks and forests. The Legislature still has to appropriate it.
Trenton. Five nonprofit organizations that look after New Jersey's state parks, forests and historic sites are in line for $7.7 million in grants that, unlike the state's usual Green Acres awards, require no matching money, the Department of Environmental Protection said on Oct. 26.
The grants are part of a package of more than $88 million that the Garden State Preservation Trust approved at its meeting on Oct. 21, on the department's recommendation. The money comes from the share of the state's Corporation Business Tax that the New Jersey Constitution sets aside for open space, farmland and historic preservation. The package now goes to the Legislature, which must appropriate it before any of it is spent.
A round without the match
Green Acres, which has paid for open space and outdoor recreation since 1961, normally asks a nonprofit to match its grant dollar for dollar. For this special round, the department invited only nonprofits that already have partnerships with it, after recent legislation recognized the role such groups play on state parks, forests, historic sites and wildlife lands, the release said.
The largest award, $3 million, goes to Friends of the New Jersey School of Conservation for work across the school's 240-acre campus in Stokes State Forest in Sussex County, to run it as a public environmental education center. The Nature Conservancy would receive $2,994,000 to restore the Hyper Humus marsh in the Paulinskill River Wildlife Management Area, a former peat mine, with stream restoration, new plantings, trail work and the removal of a bridge.
The Washington Crossing Park Association would receive $689,265 to remove invasive plants, rehabilitate meadows and replant forest lost to the emerald ash borer at Washington Crossing State Park in Mercer County. The Whitesbog Preservation Trust would receive $388,635 to restore the gardens of Suningive House at Whitesbog Historic Village in Brendan T. Byrne State Forest, and the American Battlefield Trust $227,000 to restore historic fence lines at Princeton Battlefield State Park.
The rest of the package
The largest share, $44.25 million, is for capital work on state parks, forests, historic sites and wildlife management areas, from campgrounds and boat ramps to roads, bridges and old buildings. Blue Acres, the voluntary program that buys homes that flood again and again and returns the land to floodplain, would receive $26.3 million, and Green Acres $11.8 million to buy land for the state.
“The match-free funding is a fantastic opportunity for non-profit organizations like the Washington Crossing Park Association to make lasting improvements to the public lands we care about.”
About this story
501c3.help wrote this story from the sources listed with it, not from material an organization sent. Our editors approved it on Oct. 28, 2026. Stories in The Nonprofit Herald are free, and nothing is asked in return. Editorial rules.
Found an error? Write to [email protected] and we will correct it.
For the organizations in this story: put the badge on your website
Put it on your About page or wherever you list press mentions, rather than in a footer that repeats on every page. It links to this story.
Linking is welcome and never required. Nothing about the story changes either way.