Protected
Habitat
Even
though more than half of Rhode Island is still forested, the state is rapidly
losing land for wildlife habitat. It may be one of the slowest growing (in density)
states in the country, but the population of Rhode Island is spreading out and
developing more land at a rapid pace. Time is running out for habitat protection,
and the overall risk to ecosystems is high. The need to balance residential
and commercial development with that of preserving land and openspace is a difficult
challenge the state must face. To determine the status of natural resources
in Rhode Island, this project focused on evaluating: (1) land acquisition for
protected habitat by state, private land conservation
organizations, and local land trusts, and (2) Rare
and endangered species habitat over the past ten years. It is acknowledged
that counting protected areas and rare species are not the best and only measures
to assessing ecosystem intergrity. However, for the scope of this project we
could only focus on the measurements above. Further research
is needed to accurately and thoroughly determine the status and quality of wildlife
habitats in Rhode Island. The trends in this project, however, do shed some
light on where the state stands in this respect.
The RIGIS
coverage above shows the estimated total protected habitat with total protected
open space in the state. Shown in pink, protected habitat areas include protected
land owned and managed by the Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy (or
Municpal Land Trusts), and wildlife management areas owned and operated by the
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. The land in these areas
are preserved specifically for habitat protection and management. The blue areas
show protected open space land (which include land protected for recreation,
agriculture and habitat) protected by the federal, state and municipal governments
and private foundations, societies and groups. These areas are protected for
multiple use. Out of the total OS land protected in the state (blue areas),
the pink areas show land preserved for habitat protection and management.
Land
Acquisition
Rhode
Island has several programs designed to acquire lands for openspace and wildlife
values. Habitat acquistion by the state is primarily based on the Natural
Heritage Planning Commission's score card. Figures 1 and 2 are based on
the Land
Acquisition Yearly Totals Report of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental
Management. Land acquired for habitat protection is categorized by the DEM in
the Totals Report. The numbers reflect new state holdings and conservation easements
held by the state. Additionally, the state assists a number of private conservation
organizations such as the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, The Nature Conservancy
and local land trust groups. The acreages for those partnerships are also included
in the land acquisition reports as conservation easements. Consequently, there
may be double records between the numbers on the report and the numbers recorded
from private organizations (see Inconsistencies
and Problems).
 |
|
|
Figure
1 shows protected habitat as a percentage of the total land acquired by the
DEM from 1990 to 2000. The blue areas represent acres of land aquired for habitat
protection (including fish and wildlife). The combination of blue and pink areas
represent total (including recreation, agriculture and habitat) acreage acquired
per year. It is evident that most, if not all land acquired by the DEM per year
is primarily set aside for habitat protection. Figure 2 shows the percentage
of the total land acquired solely for habitat protection by the DEM per year
from 1990-2000. Similar to Figure 1, this graph gives a good indication of the
percentage of land acquired for habitat protection. Over the last 4 years, it
is evident that there is a increasing trend in acreage acquired per year for
habitat protection.
View of Land Protected by Private
Land Conservation Organizations/ Open Space Main/
RI Indicators
