FILE – In this Aug. 7, 2017 file photo, the full moon sets behind Hunt Mountain on a privately owned tract of land surrounded by land that now comprises the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument near Patten, Maine. A report released Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017, by the Harvard Forest, a research institute of Harvard University, says New England has been losing forestland to development at a rate of 65 acres per day — a loss that comes at a time when public funding for preservation of open land, both state and federal, has also been on the decline in all six states. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
BOSTON (AP) — New England has been losing forestland to development at a rate of 65 acres per day — a loss that comes at a time when public funding for preservation of open land has also been on the decline.
That’s the conclusion of a report released Tuesday by the Harvard Forest, a research institute of Harvard University.
The study found public funding for land conservation in New England dropped by half between 2008 and 2014 to $62 million per year, slightly lower than 2004 levels.
The pace of regional land conservation also slowed from an average 333,000 acres per year in the early 2000s to about 50,000 acres per year since 2010.
Harvard Forest Director David Foster said the pace of development is changing the face of the New England landscape.
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