BOONTON, NJ March 27, 2023 – The New Jersey Highlands Coalition (NJHC) and its partners are seeking the public’s help in designing a logo for their upcoming FOREVER WILD NEW JERSEY environmental advocacy campaign, slated to launch in early May, 2023. The purpose of Forever Wild New Jersey is to designate New Jersey’s publicly owned forests as Climate Defense Reserves, which should be managed to mitigate climate change, preserve ecological health, safeguard the water quality, maximize biodiversity and provide accessible outdoor recreational opportunities.
Currently, most of New Jersey’s public forests have no protections against logging, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) regularly approves the removal and sale of trees on these public lands. These public lands – including municipal and county parks, Wildlife Management Areas, and State Parks – are acquired and managed with taxpayer funds.
A Task Force on public forest stewardship led by NJ Sierra Club, NJ Audubon Society, NJ Conservation Foundation and NJ Foresters Association concluded in their report to the joint new Jersey Senate and Assembly Environmental Committees in February 2023 that NJDEP lacks rules on how it manages public forests and recommend that a comprehensive inventory and planning process must be undertaken that prioritizes forest integrity and based on sound science. The Task Force also recommended that NJDEP amplify its efforts to address invasive species and overabundant deer, and designate carbon reserves to mitigate for the effects of climate change.
Forever Wild New Jersey seeks to hold NJDEP accountable not only to the recommendations produced by the Task Force report, but to further designate all its public forests as Climate Defense Resources to prevent logging of mature forests and ensure that New Jersey can meet its climate goals, protect its residents from the effects of climate change, and preserve the ecological values of the our public forests. The Forever Wild New Jersey campaign will raise public awareness about the need for proper public forest policies through the creation of a website and various social media channels and advertising platforms.
Interested graphic designers should submit their design as a Photoshop or Illustrator file, or as a rendered graphic file as an attachment to “logo@njhighlandscoalition.org,” with “LOGO CONTEST+LAST NAME in the subject field. Please include your name, address, email address and preferred phone number in the body of the email. The winner will be featured at a special ceremony held during the opening reception of the 10th Annual Highlands Art Exhibit at the Morris Museum in October, 2023. All submissions become property of the New Jersey Highlands Coalition. Only one winner will be chosen. The submission deadline is April 30, 2023. The winner will be chosen and notified by phone and email on May 5, 2023.
To learn more about the science, facts and myths of logging, and New Jersey Highlands Coalition’s goals for Forever Wild New Jersey, visit https://njhighlandscoalition.org/new-jersey-forestry/.
About the New Jersey Highlands Coalition
The New Jersey Highlands Coalition (www.njhighlandscoalition.org) is the only non-profit organization whose entire focus is protecting the pristine aquifers, lakes and rivers, rugged forested ridges, rolling farmlands, abundant wildlife, historic treasures, and diverse recreational opportunities found in the New Jersey Highlands, the State’s prized piece of the Appalachian Mountain chain. We are a coalition of 114 member organizations, small and large, local, regional, statewide and national as well as over 1,000 individual members who have a common interest to safeguard and defend this vital region. The Coalition is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization.
Media Inquiries:
Dylan Medici, Manager of Outreach and Education
Dylan@njhighlandscoalition.org
(862) 222-4564
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