§ 2-27-1. Statement of legislative purpose.
(a) The general assembly recognizes that forest land in the state has many important values,
including, but not limited to: clean air, clean water, economic importance, climate
change mitigation, habitat, and supporting human health and well-being. Forest land
should be maintained to meet Rhode Island's aggressive climate change goals through
carbon sequestration and storage. Core forest land and connecting natural areas should
be conserved to prevent ongoing fragmentation of the state's forests. Moreover, forest
conservation is necessary to protect and maintain water quality and important wildlife
habitat. It is in the best interest of the people that the state identify and acquire
the development rights to core and unfragmented forests so as to maintain these important
forest values for future generations. Moreover, the state must develop incentives
to encourage private forest land owners to maintain forests and to enhance urban and
community forestry ecosystems that provide collective benefits to people and wildlife,
including filtering air and water, controlling storm water, conserving energy, and
a myriad of additional critical benefits.
(b) The general assembly finds that forest land is being converted to other uses because
its current development value far exceeds its economic value to individual private
landowners as forest; that forest land is an important part of the state's economy,
environment, and quality of life; and that forests provide important economic opportunities
for many people living in the rural portions of the state. Whereas most of the development
value of forests accrue to the private landowner, many of the economic benefits of
retaining forests are also public benefits, some of which are not often quantified.
All of this serves to undervalue forests without proper mechanisms and tools to account
for public services and cost savings provided by private forests.
(c) Therefore, the general assembly establishes a forest conservation commission to be
coordinated and staffed by the department of environmental management to implement
the following objectives:
(1) Assess and recommend new funding sources to conserve forest land across the forest
continuum of rural to urban landscapes;
(2) Identify incentives to encourage forest landowners to maintain and manage their land
and preserve forest values;
(3) Encourage forest conservation as a means to sequester carbon and mitigate climate
change and maintain the numerous other benefits provided by forests;
(4) Help to increase and create new markets for Rhode Island forest products to store
carbon long-term and create new jobs;
(5) Assess impediments to the expansion of the Rhode Island forest products industry and
recommend changes to remove impediments;
(6) Assess means to encourage the improvement and expansion of urban and community forestry;
and
(7) Coordinate and seek input from key stakeholders to identify other science-based initiatives
to promote the conservation of Rhode Island forestland.