13:1L-11.1 Findings, declarations relative to designating High Point State Park as High Point State Park and New Jersey Veterans Memorial.

1. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a. In 1918, the New Jersey Department of Conservation and Development proposed the creation "on the Kittatinny Mountains in Sussex and Warren counties a great forest park for the benefit of the whole people."

b. In 1920, Director Alfred Gaskil of the Division of Parks and Forestry suggested "that the park be established as the State's memorial to its sons who had made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War."

c. Colonel Anthony Kuser deeded his mountaintop summer estate at High Point to the State in 1923 for a public park and avian sanctuary.

d. In November 1927, Colonel Kuser further donated $500,000 to erect a granite-clad obelisk on New Jersey's highest peak to honor the veterans of all wars.

e. The High Point Monument was dedicated to the "Glory and Honor and Eternal Memory of New Jersey's heroes by land, sea, and air, in all wars of our Country" in June 1930.

f. Although the High Point Monument is one of the most visible and best known landmarks in the State, and is a symbol of the State's parks and forests, the purpose for which it was built has diminished over time, and the surrounding park is only known by the name High Point State Park.

g. It is therefore appropriate to rename the entire park to match the honoring of veterans for which the iconic monument was dedicated, and thereby show respect to the men and women who have given their lives to protect this country.

L.2019, c.99, s.1.