PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management has announced the opening of the application period for enrollment of private forestland in the Forest Legacy program. Under the Forest Legacy program, high priority areas are identified for protection and then, through discussions with property owners, protected through the purchase of the land or of conservation easements. Eligible parcels must fall within designated Forest Legacy Area boundaries, be privately owned, be greater than 25 acres in size, and contain significant forest values.

Applications must be submitted prior to January 30. The state Forest Legacy Committee will prioritize parcels this winter, with acquisitions expected to proceed in 2001 with funding from the US Forest Service. The new funding is currently awaiting Congressional budget approval.

The goal of the Forest Legacy program is to prevent the conversion of forestland to non-forest uses and thereby stem the loss of the traditional forest values and uses provided by those forested lands. The most common threats to conversion are from direct development or through fragmentation of ownership of large forested parcels into smaller parcels, reducing the likelihood of proper stewardship. More than half of the state is fragmented forestland, primarily in the form of privately owned small parcels.

By the end of December, DEM will have spent $922,000 of previous grant monies from the US Forest Service to conserve 442 acres of significant forestland in Rhode Island. In addition, DEM has prioritized the 12 applications that were submitted during last summer's Forest Legacy application round, and is seeking an additional $1.9 million grant from the US Forest Service to fund eight of those projects.

For a Forest Legacy application and additional information contact Paul Ricard, Forest Legacy program coordinator, in DEM's Division of Forest Environment, at 647-3367.