Examine Patterns and Context

The American landscape has undergone dramatic changes over the past century, reducing many of the nation's most iconic ecosystems to mere fragments of their former extent. Multiple forces have been responsible for the loss or degradation of our natural ecosystems, including the widespread conversion of midwestern praries to agriculture, logging of the thick blanket of forest that covered much of the Pacific Northwest, and the piecemeal razing of many of Southern California's oak woodlands and chapparal shrublands. The news is not all bad, however. In New England, for instance, many areas denuded during colonial times are forested once more. Understanding the distribution of our natural ecosystems, how they are changing, and how fast is key to determing where conservation efforts may be needed most urgently.

The U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service estimates that approximately 2 million acres of open space a year are converted to other uses, of which about half are forestlands. And while forests are regenerating in some areas, USDA Forest Service researchers project that the nation will lose about 23 million net acres of forest by 2050. 

Increases in housing development is one of the primary drivers for loss of open space and natural habitat in many regions. And while a growing population can be expected to need additional housing, current development patterns are consuming far more land than would be predicted based on population growth alone. Although much of this growth is concentrated around traditional large metropolitan areas, the past few decades has also seen dramatic increases in the number of people moving to "high amentiy" rural regions, with a considerable increase in housing in or adjacent to sensitive wildland areas.

LandScope America will draw from and link to a variety of sources to provide users a clear and up-to-date perspective on how our landscape is changing, and where further changes might be expected. For example, the series of maps depicting current and projected housing development pressures presented in the gallery at right, provides a graphic representation of where open space and natural habitats may be under greatest pressure in the years to come. We will also profile the declines and current extent of some of the nation's iconic landscapes--ponderosa pine, longleaf pine, and tallgrass prairie, for example--to serve as examples of how even some of our most widespread habitats can become profoundly depleted.