I'll take your point on the condition of the forest lands being in the same shape. Perhaps some loose wording there. Simply saying that a lot of the acreage is still untouched by housing/commercial development (85%). And, I was only talking about CT, not out west. But even there, sprawl is crazy. In the 1970s, it took me three hours of driving through barren (but absolutely gorgeous) nothingness along the base of the Rocky Mountains to get from Denver to Colorado Springs. Now, due to housing development, there's only about 15-20 minutes of true untouched nature between them (and that was 10-15 years ago - last time I drove it - could be even worse by now). American land use policy stands in stark contrast to Europe, where communities have concentrated centers and the land around them remains open for nature walks and other such purposes. Having lived in Switzerland for 7 years, my family experienced this regularly. Quite a refreshing difference. Not everybody needing/wanting a 1-2 acre plot of land with a house.