New England Study Calls for Dramatic Increase in Sustainable Forestry
A new report released today highlights the opportunity for New England to dramatically expand forest protections and sustainably meet the region’s wood product needs by reducing consumption and reorienting production.
The report calls on New England states to permanently protect roughly 70% of the region’s landscape—a significant increase from the 25% currently protected—while expanding sustainable forest management across two-thirds of New England’s forests. The report is by researchers from the University of Vermont (UVM), Harvard Forest, Conservation Science Partners, University of Massachusetts, and Brandeis University.
“New England is losing 30,000 acres of forest permanently to development each year,” says lead author Caitlin Littlefield, a Senior Scientist at Conservation Science Partners and graduate of UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. “Even as the region touts a strong conservation ethic, we suffer from a considerable shortfall in production compared to our enormously high rates of consumption and our capacity for sustainable production. We need to dramatically accelerate protection of both wild forest and sustainably managed forests to take greater responsibility for our resource demands.”
The report finds that New England only produces three-quarters of the wood it consumes—and meets some of this shortfall with wood drawn from distant places with weaker environmental and social oversight. Even starker disparities exist in the region: 70% of the region’s production comes from Maine, while 70% of the region’s consumption occurs in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The report challenges these and other states in the region to boost production and reduce consumption of wood products.
