It's enough to make Henry David Thoreau weep.
New England – the home of Vermont maple trees bursting with sweet syrup, and balsam fir and red spruce spread across New Hampshire's White Mountains – is losing its forests.
Of all America's forests under pressure from development, New England's are shrinking the fastest.
The problem is severe enough that some conservation groups say they have limited time to act.
"The window for conserving forests is closing," says Andy Swinton, director of field science with The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit habitat conservation organization. But "there's really an opportunity here, because the next 20 years will determine the character of New England forests. This is a race against time, and the time to act is now." [...]
Stopping Forest Loss in the Land of Thoreau
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Stopping Forest Loss in the Land of Thoreau
States like Massachusetts are losing 72 acres per day to urbanization.
By Caitlin Carpenter
The Christian Science Monitor, 9/6/07
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