New Jersey's Environments

Many people outside New Jersey picture it as a place of ruined landscapes, and drivers on the Turnpike, the route most visitors use, see a steady run of factories, smokestacks, and towering landfills that seem to confirm the idea. Residents tend to know a different place. Although the population is dense and cities keep growing, roughly two-thirds of the state is still farmland or forest, and it sets aside a bigger share of its land for state parks and forest than the national average. That contradiction makes New Jersey a useful place to study how Americans relate to the natural world.

This collection gathers nine essays by historians, policy specialists, and earth scientists, each examining a specific case to explain why land use, resource, and conservation decisions were made and what followed from them. The topics range from household and solid waste to wildlife management, and from urban sprawl to how communities prepare for natural disasters. Because the state holds a wide mix of interests, the contributors show how environmentalists, residents, and businesses often pull in different directions.

The book records the new approaches and negotiated settlements that New Jersey developed in response to rising environmental concern. Many of these local efforts offered models that other places have since looked to as they pursue similar goals of protecting the natural world.