R.I. Gen. Laws § 32-4-2: Legislative declaration.

The general assembly hereby finds and declares that:

(1) Providing land for public recreation and the conservation of natural resources promotes the public health, prosperity, and general welfare and is a proper responsibility of government;

(2) The lands now provided for those purposes will not be adequate to meet the needs of the expanding population in years to come;

(3) The expansion of population, while increasing the need for those lands, will continually diminish the supply thereof and will tend to increase the cost to the public of acquiring lands suitable and appropriate for those purposes; and

(4) The state should act now to acquire and to assist local governments to acquire substantial quantities of those lands now available so that they may be used and preserved for future use for those purposes.