and the construction of fast, modern highways, distance has become a much less important factor in controlling land use. An hour's travel the limit of how far most people are willing to commute - now covers 40 to 50 miles. Hence, the more ordered land-use patterns of the past industry and housing in the cities, farming and forestry in the rural areas - have become homogenized. For example, one stretch of Route 5 in South Windsor passes housing developments, farmland, light industry, a gravel mine, and a shopping center, all in the space of a few miles. When such large differences in land use occur in so small an area, conflict between adjacent uses is nearly certain to arise.

The greatest conflicts occur over the best land, usually farmland. Ground that is farmable probably can be developed for almost any other type of land use as well. As the flat, fertile, rock-free, well-drained regions such as the ancient basin of Glacial Lake Hitchcock have become developed, they have become lands of contention. Residents complain about the smell of manure and the contamination of wells from fertilizers and pesticides. Neighboring industries are accused of polluting air and ground water. Meanwhile, the farmer moans about the changes that increasingly make farming in Connecticut uneconomical: the skyrocketing cost of land, increased traffic inhibiting the movement of farm machinery, the nuisance of keeping kids and the idly inquisitive out of crops and away from farm animals, and high inheritance taxes that often prevent children from continuing on the family farm.

A similar litany of problems surrounds development of forest land. Southern New England is prime habitat for growing hardwood species: maple, cherry, tulip poplar, and oak (especially red oak). There is a world-wide shortage of hardwoods, so valuable for firewood, furniture, flooring, paneling, and special types of paper (for example, the paper on which this book is printed). Connecticut could make a more significant contribution to alleviating the hardwood shortage. As development continues, however, foresters lament the greater costs of forest land and the division of large tracts into parcels too small for economical timber harvesting. Meanwhile, homeowners object to the sight and sound of forestry practices and often prefer to keep forests uncut for aesthetic reasons.

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