General Information: Green Acres

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection provides grants and loans to municipalities for the purchase and development of parklands. This funding program is called the Green Acres Program. Bridgewater has received many funding awards since the Green Acres Program was created in the 1970's, including grants for acquisition of lands included in the Middle Brook Trail.

Any parks funded by Green Acres, or parks that the Township acquired or developed with its own funds, are called open space. As of January 2000, Bridgewater owned 61 parks containing over 600 acres of open space, including 18 developed and 43 undeveloped parks. Green Acres regulations forbid the Township from selling any of its parklands without first replacing those lands with similar parkland.

It should be noted that Bridgewater does own some undeveloped lands that are not held as open space. A listing of all lands held for open space is kept in the Bridgewater Municipal Building.