The forests are disappearing. That's the warning from conservationists who point to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, which found Rhode Island has been losing forest land since 1963, when the tree cover peaked at 434,000 acres, or about two-thirds of the state. By 2005, the amount of forest land fell to around 358,000 acres, or a little more than half the state.
If the trend continue, researchers say, Rhode Island could end up leading the nation in forest loss.
The culprit? Too much development in a small state, according to conservationists.
When The Nature Conservancy tried to purchase land just across the Rhode Island border in Sterling, Conn., along the winding Moosup River, they were outbid by developers, according to Conservancy member Kevin Essington. The lands is part of a key watershed that includes portions of western Rhode Island.
The developer left trees standing on the edge of the land but the house lots were left bare, he said.
"The owners had to buy new trees from Home Depot," Essington told The Providence Journal.
The same thing is happening across New England. From Connecticut to Maine, developers have chewed up 60,800 acres of forest land a year between from 1987 to 1997.
That's 167 acres a day, according to Brett J. Butler, a researcher with the USDA Forest Service.
"It's happening all along the east coast, along the I-95 corridor definitely," Butler told the paper.
By 2050, Rhode Island could be 70 percent urban, they say.
While Connecticut and Massachusetts could be 61 percent urban by then. Rhode Island stands to lose a greater percentage of trees because of its small size.
The disappearing forests are catching the attention of elected officials in the Northeast.
In Rhode Island, local trusts and state agencies are ramping up effort to slow development. This year, the Department of Environmental Management spent nearly $4.7 million to protect 490 acres by paying for development rights, conservation easements or land itself.
In Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell last year created a state office to control "sprawling development."
And in Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's administration recently spent $5.2 million to prevent 900 acres around Lower Spectacle Pond in the Berkshire mountains community of Sandisfield from being developed.Times Argus
