On June 10, 2004, both houses of the New Jersey Legislature
passed the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act. This
bill--signed by the governor on August 10--is the most
significant piece of state land use legislation since the State
Planning Act of 1985, and is among the most significant
environmental bills ever passed by the State of New Jersey. That
said, the bill is not entirely without precedent, even in New
Jersey. The new regional planning program for the Highlands
resembles that established for the Pinelands region of the state
in 1979. As in the Highlands case, protection of fresh water was
a primary motivation behind the 1979 Pinelands bill. One
difference between the two cases is the greater development
pressure and larger non-rural population that characterizes the
Highlands region of the state, which lies along the Appalachian
ridge between Bergen and Hunterdon counties. This Rutgers New
Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES) Cooperative
Extension hypertext fact sheet is designed to