The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is spending $14 million to protect fields, marshes and forests in New Jersey and Rhode Island, the New York Times reports. Foundation officials want to keep those areas safe from the suburban growth that has been swallowing up undeveloped land in both states, the most populated in the U.S.

The bulk of the money, $8.4 million, will be used during the next four years to help conservation groups buy land and restrictive easements in central and northern New Jersey. The foundation expects the money to buy at least 10,000 acres in those areas -- where construction has threatened the patchwork of woods and streams called the Pine Barrens and the ridge of highlands that sit west of the state's coastal plain, the article reports.

That portion of money will be split between two conservancy groups -- the Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land. The groups must raise at least $4 million in public and private money to match the Doris Duke grant.

The foundation also will give $950,000 to two groups in New Jersey trying to make local land trusts stronger and promote land-use planning by governments, the New York Times states. In addition to protecting economic growth, that effort protects wetlands and other habitats, foundation officials say.

Grants totaling $4.7 million will be made in Rhode Island for similar uses, says Peter Howell, the director of environmental programs for the foundation.

The foundation -- established in 1997 by the estate of Doris Duke -- supports arts, environmental causes and medical research. It has more than $1.4 billion in assets and made $48 million in grants last year.

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