Development Devours 3 Million Acres a Year
12/8/99
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Title: DEVELOPMENT Devours 3 Million Acres a Year
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 8, 1999
Byline: Cat Lazaroff
AMES, Iowa, December 8, 1999 (ENS) - Privately-owned forests,
croplands, and wetlands in the United States are losing ground to
development and erosion, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported
today. Speaking at a national conservation summit in Ames,
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman called for a new national
commitment to preserving private land.
Glickman released USDA's Natural Resources Inventory, a report on the
health of America's private land, which accounts for about 70 percent
of U.S. land area. The report reveals that development has doubled
this decade to more than three million acres a year. Nearly 16
millions acres of open space were developed between 1992 and 1997,
more land than in the entire decade from 1982 to 1992, which saw the
conversion of about 13.9 million acres, or 1.4 million acres a year.
"Conservation challenges are mounting and intensifying more quickly
than we are solving them," said Glickman, addressing USDA's National
Conservation Summit at Iowa State University. "This report
demonstrates that we must redouble our efforts to preserve farm and
forest land, reduce soil erosion, improve water quality, and protect
wetlands."
Among the report's findings:
Nearly two billion tons of soil is eroding into waterways each year.
Despite significant gains in erosion control during the past 15
years, there has been no additional improvement since 1995.
Gross wetland losses have increased to 54,000 acres annually on
agricultural land. But wetland preservation efforts, like the Wetland
Reserve Program, are helping. Wetland gains are nearly 30,000 acres a
year.
Tree and forest cover in urban areas is declining at an alarming
rate. In the Chesapeake Bay region, for example, tree canopy has
declined from 51 percent cover to 37 percent in the last 25 years.
Since 1982, total pastureland and rangeland has declined by nearly 26
million acres.
Texas and Pennsylvania had the highest rate of open space
development.
Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, California, Tennessee, Michigan,
South Carolina, and Ohio rounded out the top ten states in rate of
development. Data from Alaska were not yet available.
"All Americans concerned about clean water, clean air, and preserving
our quality of life should come together to do more to address these
conservation challenges," said Glickman.
Vice President Al Gore said in a statement Monday the Clinton
administration will seek a significant increase in funding for
voluntary programs to preserve farms threatened by sprawl.
"These new figures confirm what communities across America already
know -- too much of our precious open space is being gobbled up by
sprawl," Gore said. "We need to help communities grow in ways that
work. We can build more livable communities, with a strong economy
and a high quality of life, without forcing family farmers off the
farm."
The 1997 Natural Resources Inventory land conversion report is
available at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov