What's New
Rhode Island is one of the most developed states in the country, and
every month we lose more and more acres of farms, forests and meadows
to development.
Rhode Island’s state parks and management areas cover more than 10
percent of Rhode Island’s landmass. These public lands are a critical
part of Rhode Island’s natural environment and provide opportunities
for hiking and solitude, in addition to critical habitat for plants and
animals.
Unfortunately, even Rhode Island’s state parks and management areas
don’t have the kind of open space protections they need to keep them
permanently preserved.
Brief Summary
The state
we know and love—with working family farms, the woodlands of northern and
western Rhode Island, the last undeveloped
coastal plots along Narragansett Bay, and
peaceful neighborhood trails through the woods—is threatened by sprawl and
overdevelopment.
Since 1985 Rhode Island has fought
to protect its natural character through a variety of bond-funded programs to
purchase and preserve open space. Voters have consistently supported these efforts,
voting overwhelmingly to renew preservation funding again and again.
Though
voters have made it clear that they want the state to protect our last
remaining natural areas, we’re not sure our elected officials got the message.
Unless funding is renewed in 2008, key programs will go unfunded.
That’s why
Environment Rhode Island is calling on Gov. Carcieri and the General Assembly
to act this year and renew funding for these critical preservation programs:
· State Land Acquisition—To expand state parks and management
areas
· R.I. Farmland Protection—To purchase development rights
from farms; and
· Local Open Space Grants—To save at risk open spaces in our communities.
