Indicators:  Farm, Forest, Wetland

Forest

After a century of growth and relative stability, Connecticut’s forests are losing ground.

Most of Connecticut’s forests were cleared for agriculture and industry in the 19th century and then allowed to regenerate. From 1960 to 2000, the overall acreage of forest did not change much, even with the rapid spread of roads, housing and commercial development. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the spread of forests on abandoned farms equaled the conversion of forested land to other uses. The 21st century has brought a change, with forest acreage now declining.

This indicator shows the total acreage of forests in Connecticut that occur in patches larger than 50 acres. Property boundaries are not considered; a patch might be owned by one landowner or many. About 93 percent of the forested acres in Connecticut occur in these larger patches (i.e., those greater than 50 acres). By excluding the smaller patches we remove from consideration the many thousands of “forest” patches that are an acre or two in size. While wooded patches as small as one acre are counted by the U.S. Forest Service, these are often the trees in residents’ back yards and cannot be considered fully functioning forests, and therefore are not included here. Data are obtained from the U.S. Forest Service, which estimates forest acreage annually. This is a new data source; prior to 2004, the Service measured Connecticut’s forests once a decade. The new annual analyses have a greater potential for errors, but these will be corrected in subsequent years.

NOTE: This indicator was introduced last year, replacing the forest indicator used through 2004. The old indicator was based in part on forest classification data connected to Public Act 490 (preferential property tax rates for forest land). Those data are no longer being collected by the DEP because of statutory changes and staff reductions, and will no longer be available. Readers’ comments on this new indicator are welcome.