Community rallies to save decades-old NJ environmental school

The New Jersey School of Conservation will remain open after the community rallied together to help secure $1.3 million in funding in the state's budget.

"Because of the nearly 11,000 emails and letters and thousands upon thousands of phone calls, and visits to the Statehouse, your fierce dedication, passion and unwavering voices — Trenton heard you," the school said in a July 1 post on Facebook. "We have achieved a major victory that will allow the New Jersey School of Conservation to remain open!"

The call to action began earlier this year, when, for the first time in decades, Gov. Mikie Sherrill's proposed 2026-27 budget eliminated all funding for the New Jersey School of Conservation, a "devastating blow," said the school's executive director, Kerry Kirk Pflugh.

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Representatives of the school made an urgent request to restore its funding during a March public hearing on the budget with state senators in Trenton, Kirk Pflugh told NorthJersey.com in April. They also launched an online petition to gather public support.

"We immediately mobilized our friends and colleagues, and schools, and business community, and academic community, and went to work to try to get the attention of the governor's office," Kirk Pflugh told NorthJersey.com in a phone call on July 9. "We also reached out to our champions in the state Legislature who have been supportive of us for many years."

After thousands of emails and countless phone calls to state leadership, along with daily social media posts about the School of Conservation, Kirk Pflugh said, the facility was able to secure $1.3 million in the state's final budget, which was signed by Sherrill on June 30.

Although the funding ensures that the school will remain open, there is a significant shortfall of about $300,000. Kirk Pflugh said the school will have to close the gap through fundraising to continue operating through the end of the fiscal year.

On top of immediate operating funds, the school included language in its budget resolution that allows it to apply for about $3 million in funding for capital improvements from the Garden State Preservation Trust. Kirk Pflugh said the money would help repair and maintain some of the school's 90-year-old buildings.

School officials are also hoping for separate legislation that will guarantee its ability to access this source of state capital funding permanently.

"This budget represents a massive milestone, but our work is far from finished," reads the school's posted statement.

The New Jersey School of Conservation has operated for 77 years on a 240-acre tract of land in Stokes State Forest in Sussex County. The school's website says it is the oldest year-round, residential environmental education center in the country.

The school offers environmental programming to both students and educators. Kirk Pflugh said it aims to provide access to this education to students from all walks of life throughout the state. A little more than half of the districts using School of Conservation programs in 2025 were Title 1 districts, she previously told NorthJersey.com.

Though there is still work to be done, Kirk Pflugh expressed immense gratitude to the governor and state lawmakers, as well as the community and all those who have supported the school's mission.

"It was amazing. It is very, very heartening to me to know that there are people out there as passionate and who understand the value and importance of the School of Conservation as I do," said Kirk Pflugh, who has personal connections to the school, having grown up in the area. Her father was the School of Conservation's fifth director. "It's deeply personal to me to keep the school open because of the past history, but also because I see the value of it and the transformative experiences that young people have when they are here."

She continued, "The benefit to young people, both in terms of natural resource education and social and mental health, the benefits are just extraordinary."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Community rallies to save decades-old NJ environmental school