The effort got a big push this week when state and federal officials announced that they had authorized the expenditure of $5.2 million for a study aimed at finding the best way to make it happen. The study will be conducted by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

"Today is a landmark day for those of us who have spent years working toward having the 8,400 acres of the Meadowlands become an environmental park," said Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ) in announcing the study at the headquarters of the NJ Meadowlands Commission here. Most of the acreage lies within Rothman's congressional district, and he has made the effort one of his cornerstone legislative programs.

Ultimately, "we expect to be able, through a combination of federal, state and local money, to buy those acres not presently owned by the Meadowlands Commission or the state," according to Rothman. He estimates that it would eventually take as much as $200 million to clean up the 8,400 acres and turn it into what he referred to as the Meadowlands Environmental Park. Other estimates have run as high as $300 million.

There are a number of issues facing the effort, which encompasses 32 square miles in 14 communities in Bergen and Hudson counties. One of the key ones is ownership - of the total of 8,400 acres, only about 1,700 acres are currently in state and agency hands. Reports that the state was prepared to offer something on the order of $10,000 per acre have not gone over well with current landowners, some of whom have publicly placed a value of $50,000 an acre on their properties.

Then there are development proposals that are already on the table, beginning with Mills Corp.'s plan to develop a retail mall on a portion of the 600-acre so-called Empire Tract. Local officials have been fighting the project vigorously, and Mills, of course, is also bidding for the redevelopment rights to the Continental Airlines Arena site nearby. If Mills gets shut out of the arena redevelopment, company officials have already said that they intend to pursue the Empire Tract project.

"But these 8,400 undeveloped acres warrant our preservation efforts," according to Rothman. "They are the largest contiguous parcels of open space remaining in northeastern New Jersey, and this park will be a legacy of conservation."