Dodge Foundation awards environmental grants

Morristown — The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation has announced the awarding of $5,170,000 to 76 organizations in New Jersey and the Northeast.

This year’s grants reflect the foundation’s ongoing focus on land-use issues and the protection of natural resources across the state. Virtually all of the awarded funds seek to improve the quality of life in the region, particularly in the Garden State, by supporting efforts to preserve open space and natural resources, helping towns plan well for growth, and assisting New Jersey’s cities with livability and sustainability issues.

In addition to supporting smart growth activity in New Jersey, assistance went to several groups that inform the public about environmental issues, as well as to several whose research and vision are creating knowledge and leadership that will help to shape a sustainable future.

Among the grant recipients are:

American Littoral Society

Highlands

$80,000

www.littoralsociety.org:

To support regional approaches to coastal conservation and sustainability across a range of concerns including habitat protection, growth management and water quality.

Clean Ocean Action

Highlands

$80,000

www.CleanOceanAction.org

For general operating support for programs designed to protect the ocean and its vital resources, especially its fish, crustaceans, mollusks and diverse microscopic forms.

Clean Water Fund

Belmar

$80,000

www.cleanwaterfund.org

To support the long-term “stop the sprawl” initiative as well as programs in urban areas designed to safeguard water, reduce pesticide use, and limit exposure to toxins.

Global Learning

Brielle

$60,000

www.globallearningnj.org/glean.htm”

To continue an intensive statewide education campaign on the benefits of environmentally sound High Performance Sustainable schools and to provide technical expertise to three current and six new model school projects for statewide replication.

National Center for Neighborhood and Brownfields Redevelopment

New Brunswick

$30,000

http://policy.rutgers.edu/brownfields

To support the center’s continuing effort to facilitate the physical and social revitalization of a distressed urban neighborhood surrounding the site of a new middle school that will be built on a brownfield site in Plainfield’s West End.

New Jersey Audubon Society

Bernardsville

$100,000

www.njaudubon.org

To advance seven initiatives that address wildlife conservation concerns across New Jersey. These projects address sprawl, open space preservation, wildlife and endangered species, biological diversity affected by global climate change, and place-based conservation efforts.

New Jersey Conservation Foundation

Far Hills

$200,000

www.njconservation.org

For the Garden State Greenways Initiative, which includes land acquisition, policy reform, and outreach to strategic partners. The initiative provides a framework for achieving a green infrastructure of interconnected farmlands, forest, parks, trails and walkways throughout New Jersey.

New Jersey Future

Trenton

$75,000

www.njfuture.org

For general operating support of New Jersey Future’s efforts to shape how and where land development and preservation should take place in the state.

New Jersey Public Interest Research Group

Trenton

$60,000

www.njpirg.org

To support efforts to educate policymakers about the need to protect the state’s natural resources, especially its waterways, from the negative effects of sprawl.

NY/NJ Baykeeper

Sandy Hook

$75,000

www.nynjbaykeeper.org

To advance the application of the Public Trust Doctrine (PTD) to the Lower Passaic River. The PTD argues that public natural good, if destroyed or harmed by a particular corporate body or institution, must reimburse the public for the damages done, through payment of Natural Resource Damage funds.

SAVE NJ Coalition

Belmar

$15,000

www.cleanwaterfund.org

For public education, analysis and legal research to counter the state’s “Fast-Track” policy, as well as the advancement of measures that will mitigate the impact of that policy on future regulatory and land-use decisions. Activities will be conducted by the SAVE NJ Coalition, which consists of more than 50 New Jersey environmental groups.