New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette recently announced the award of $24.3 million in Natural Climate Solutions Grants to local governments and nonprofits to create, restore, and enhance New Jersey’s green spaces and tree canopies in urban areas, salt marshes and forests.
A major grant of $4.99 million was awarded to the American Littoral Society for restoring marshes at the mouth of the Maurice River in Cumberland County. The local Littoral Society is based in Millville. Funding provided to the Littoral Society for their Restoring Marsh at the Mouth of the Maurice River project will lead to the restoration of 19.5 acres of tidal salt marsh and create up to 3,500 feet of living shoreline and oyster reefs.
Two other major grants, also of about five million dollars each, were awarded to restoring marshes at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Brick in Ocean County and the Stafford Township Popular Point in Ocean County. The projects are funded through New Jersey’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multi-state, market-based program that establishes a regional cap on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel power plants.
