SENATE, No. 1263

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED MAY 30, 1996

 

 

By Senators CIESLA, KYRILLOS, Martin, Singer, MacInnes, McGreevey and Cafiero

 

 

An Act requiring the Department of Environmental Protection to establish a natural resources inventory, supplementing Title 13 of the Revised Statutes, and appropriating $20,000.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. The Department of Environmental Protection, in cooperation with the Division of Travel and Tourism in the Department of Commerce and Economic Development, shall establish a natural resources inventory, using the Geographic Information System, for the purpose of encouraging ecologically based tourism and recreation in New Jersey. This inventory shall contain information on New Jersey's natural, historic, and recreational resources, and shall include, but need not be limited to, federal, state, county and local parks, wildlife management areas, hatcheries, natural areas, historic sites, state forests, recreational areas, ecological and biological study sites, reservoirs, marinas, boat launches, campgrounds, waterfront access points, winter sports recreation areas, and national wildlife refuges.

 

    2. Within one year of the effective date of this act, the Department of Environmental Protection shall publish and make available to the public at all state offices a pamphlet which shall contain information on the location, available facilities and activities, operating hours, admission fees, parking fees, and phone numbers of the areas included on the inventory established pursuant to section 1 of this act, together with any maps or indexes and any other information deemed helpful to facilitate the use of the areas.

 

    3. Within one year of the publication of the pamphlet completed pursuant to section 2 of this act, the Department of Environmental Protection shall make the information contained in the pamphlet available to the public through the largest nonproprietary cooperative public computer network.

 

    4. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Environmental Protection the sum of $20,000 to implement the provisions of this act.

 

    5. This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    This bill requires the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), in cooperation with the Division of Travel and Tourism in the Department of Commerce and Economic Development, to establish a natural resources inventory, using the Geographic Information System, for the purposes of promoting ecologically based tourism and recreation in New Jersey. This inventory would contain information on New Jersey's natural, historic, and recreational resources. This bill requires DEP to publish and make available to the public at all state offices, within one year of the date of enactment, a pamphlet describing these resources of the State. The pamphlet would contain information on the location, available facilities and activities, operating hours, admission fees, parking fees, and phone numbers, together with any maps or indexes and any other information deemed helpful to facilitate the use of these areas.

    This bill also requires the DEP to make the information in the pamphlet available on the Internet within one year of the pamphlet's publication.    Lastly, this bill appropriates $20,000 from the General Fund to DEP in order to implement the bill's provisions.

 

 

                             

 

Requires DEP to establish natural resources inventory; appropriates $20,000.