“As the biggest plants on the planet, trees give us oxygen, store carbon, stabilize the soil and give life to the world's wildlife. They also provide us with the materials for tools and shelter.” To read more about the importance of trees to our health, the environment, and more, click HERE.
GCA is a strong advocate for trees, unfragmented forests, and the many ecosystem benefits trees provide including carbon sequestration. The last 30 years of development have taken a toll on the number of Groton’s trees, and the remaining fragmented forests are in poor condition. A range of Connecticut tree species is dying from a combination of afflictions, in part due to climate change. Two years of drought weakened our trees, leaving them vulnerable to pests and diseases, and multiple major storms in recent years inflicted more damage on our woodlands.
Discouraging suburban sprawl’s clear-cutting and encouraging the preservation of old and intact forests based on sequestration science should be key to a sustainable Groton. It makes financial sense since trees are the only cost-efficient way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. A peer-reviewed article titled “Intact Forests in the United States: Proforestation Mitigates Climate Change and Serves the Greatest Good” published in June 2019 in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, states that “newly planted forests require many decades to a century before they sequester carbon dioxide in substantial quantities.”
We are pleased that the current town council is promoting redevelopment because we are running out of time for development and forestry as usual.
