01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, August 31, 2003

A new national study links suburban sprawl to America's worsening problems with obesity. Data for Rhode Island support the national findings, but also show only slight differences between suburbanites and urban dwellers here.

The study, published in two medical journals, found that people who live in counties with the worst sprawl nationally spend less time walking and weigh an average of 6 pounds more than people living in the most densely populated cities.

Data for Rhode Island show the same trends, but with much less difference.

Washington County, whose communities are dealing with some of the highest population increases in the state, was determined to have the highest rate of sprawl in Rhode Island. Providence County has the lowest rate.

But health data show that the average resident in Washington County weighs only about 1 pound more than the average person in Providence County. Expectations of obesity and hypertension were only about 1 percent more in Washington County than Providence.

Weight and health expectations for residents of Kent and Bristol Counties fell between Washington County and Providence. Newport County was not included.

John Flaherty, director of research and communications for Grow Smart Rhode Island, acknowledged that the differences between Washington and Providence Counties appeared small, but he said they remained significant.

"Even a half-pound difference is significant when you look at a whole population," he said. Also, he said all the counties in Rhode Island are closer to the middle of the range when you compare sprawling counties nationally with those that are densely populated.

For the study, "Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity, Obesity and Morbidity," researchers analyzed health data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on 200,000 individuals. They determined degrees of sprawl by studying U.S. Census and other federal data. The study can be viewed at www.smartgrowthamerica.org.

The study and dozens of related articles were published simultaneously in the American Journal of Health Promotion and the American Journal of Public Health, to highlight the importance of the relationship between man-made environments and health.

The study showed that as sprawl increases, people walk less and risk higher chances of obesity and high blood pressure.

Scott Wolf, executive director of Grow Smart Rhode Island, said the study supports the policy of encouraging communities to designate neighborhoods for compact, mixed-use development that allows people to walk more.

"We need to develop public policies that make it more feasible for developers to invest in traditional neighborhoods where people can walk to nearby stores, services, recreation facilities and jobs," said Wolf. For examples he cited Darlington, Wickford, Silver Lake, Apponaug, Valley Falls, Chepachet and downtown Warren.

Jamestown farm wins dairy award
The Dutra Farm in Jamestown has been named Rhode Island's 2003 Outstanding Dairy Farm of the Year by the Rhode Island Green Pastures Committee.

The farm, owned by Joseph and Jessie Dutra, will be honored at an awards banquet Sept. 12 at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Mass.

The farm dates back to Colonial times and was once owned by Joseph Wanton Jr., deputy governor of Rhode Island in the 1860s.

Joseph Dutra is a third-generation dairy farmer. His grandfather, Joseph Furtado Dutra, was born in the Azores. He immigrated to America at the turn of the century and bought 40 acres of what was then the Wanton Farm in 1917.

The elder Dutra began farming with a few cows, hens, fruits and vegetables and purchased more acreage in the 1930s. He passed the farm on to his son, Joseph Furtado Dutra Jr., as primarily a dairy farm.

The current owner is a 1972 graduate of the University of Rhode Island, where he earned a bachelor's degree in animal science.

The farm now includes 140 acres at a picturesque location overlooking Newport, Narragansett Bay and the Newport Bridge.

The Dutras have a herd of more than 100 Holsteins, which are milked twice a day. They also grow corn and hay to feed the cows during the winter months, and they maintain a machinery and repair shop.

The farm was picked by the Rhode Island Green Pastures Committee because of its outstanding relationship with the community, its use of good management practices and its commitment to open-space preservation in Jamestown.

Membership in the committee is coordinated by the state Department of Environmental Management's Division of Agriculture.

State boosts forest businesses
The state Department of Environmental Management has awarded $8,242 in challenge grants to owners of woodlots to help them start alternative forest-based businesses.

The grants are intended to reimburse landowners for half the cost of supplies and materials needed to start their businesses.

The grants went to:

Charles Chase, of Coventry, $2,000 for planting 10 acres of sugar maple trees and $1,000 for establishing noble fir for production of floral greens.

Gloria Szymkowicz, of Coventry, $1,000 for production of forest-grown edible mushrooms.

The Rhode Island Forest Conservators Organization of Foster, $1,375 to create a trailer rig for harvesting witch hazel and preparing educational materials.

Howard Shaw, of Foster, $950 to establish forest-grown ginseng for medicinal use and $250 to plant sugar maple for maple syrup production.

The Southside Community Land Trust of Providence, $792 for production of forest-grown edible mushrooms in Cranston.

Milton Schumacher, of Scituate, $650 to establish forest-grown ginseng for medicinal use.

Jeremiah Allen, of Scituate, $225 to plant sugar maple for maple syrup production.

The grants are part of a DEM initiative to encourage preservation of healthy and sustainable forests in Rhode Island. The landowners are required to report back to DEM on their projects and to help DEM promote the program to other forest-owners. Forests cover 60 percent of Rhode Island's landscape.

Private citizens own 75 percent of the forests, mostly in small parcels that make the management of traditional wood-based forest products difficult.

No-discharge zones spread into Conn.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved expansion of Rhode Island's no-discharge zone for boaters into the Connecticut portions of the Pawcatuck River and Little Narragansett Bay, as well as portions of Fishers Island Sound and all of Stonington Harbor.

The State of Connecticut proposed the ban on discharging sewage from boats in those waters. In making the proposal, it advised the EPA that three disposal facilities are available to service boats.

The disposal sites are the Dodson Boatyard in Stonington Harbor, Norwest Marina on the Pawcatuck River, and the Westerly pumpout boat.

The no-discharge designation officially went into effect on Aug. 22.

Rhode Island was the first state in the nation to have all its marine waters declared no-discharge zones.

The Environmental Journal is a listing of brief news items about the actions of individuals, organizations and businesses that affect the air we breathe, the water we drink and the landscape that surrounds us.

If you have comments or suggestions, please contact environment reporter Peter B. Lord at 277-8036, or by e-mail at plord@projo.com, or by writing him, care of the Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, R.I. 02902.