Imminent Threat to Arcadia!!! The town of Hopkinton is about to give the green light to changing the zoning to allow an industrial scale solar installation on 350 acres abutting Arcadia Management Area. 175 acres will be completely cleared of all vegetation (55,000 trees!). The developer insists that the project will have minimal environmental impact, but the installation will destroy habitat, and will be surrounded by a 6 foot cyclone fence that will block any form of wildlife that cannot pass underneath the fence. Habitat destruction on this scale is deadly to species (how many owls and other animals make their homes in those 55,000 trees?). Deforestation undermines the greenhouse gas benefits of solar. Rhode Island’s forests absorb, on average, 88 tons of carbon dioxide per acre. With about 400,000 acres of forest in the state, that’s 35 million tons of carbon sequestered annually for free — the emissions equivalent of 6 million cars. NONE of the environmental advocacy groups (e.g., Nature Conservancy, Clean Water Action, Sierra Club, etc.) support deforestation for solar development citing adverse effects on water quality, air quality, sound quality, decreases in wildlife population and threats to biodiversity. If you are a friend of Arcadia and are concerned about how this will affect its wildlife population, please contact the Hopkinton Town Council and RI DEM to protest what will be the largest industrial solar installation in RI. Let Gov. Raimondo know that you only support industrial scale solar in already disturbed areas such as brown fields, landfills, rooftops, etc (like in surrounding states!). Going solar isn't green if it involves deforestation. Save Arcadia from this encroachment any way you can. UPDATE: This development was not approved, but forests and habitat all over RI are being destroyed for commercial solar. Be vigilant!