There is hereby created and established in but not of the Division of Parks and Forestry of the Department of Environmental Protection, a body corporate and politic with corporate succession, to be known as the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust. The trust is hereby constituted an instrumentality exercising public and essential government functions and the exercise by the trust of the powers conferred by this act shall be deemed and held to be an essential government function of the State. The statutory goals of the trust shall include the preservation of land in its natural state for enjoyment by the public and to protect elements of natural diversity.
N.J.S. § 13:1B-15.119