Hello everyone, a report was just released called "Wildlands in New England" which "is the first U.S. study to map and characterize all permanently conserved lands in one region that are managed to be forever wild."

Scientists from Harvard Forest including Dr. David Foster were among the principal authors of this report.

One of the most alarming things to come out of this report is how Rhode Island is the state with the fewest wildland areas in all of New England.

ONLY ONE WILDLANDS SITE WAS IDENTIFIED IN RHODE ISLAND!

This is the Oakland Forest which is a 20 acre Old Growth Forest in Portsmouth which is owned by the Aquidneck Land Trust, a private organization.

THERE IS NOT ONE AREA OF PROTECTED WILDLANDS ON PUBLIC LAND IN RHODE ISLAND!

Rhode Island is also the only state in New England with no protected wildlands on public land.

This is embarrassing and disgraceful that Rhode Island has so few protected wildlands.

This is why we need Natural Area Preserves to finally create protected wildlands in Rhode Island.

Nathan Cornell

President of the Old Growth Tree Society