U.S. Losing Nature At Rate Of 2 Football Fields Per Minute: Study

The United States is losing the equivalent of two football fields of natural land to development every minute, according to a new report commissioned by the Center for American Progress. The organization is urging policymakers to reverse the trend and take action.

Development in the country spread by more than 24 million acres from 2001 to 2017, the study shows. If national trend continues, a South Dakota-size expanse of forests, wetlands and wild places will disappear by 2050.

Matt Lee-Ashley, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, said a lot is at stake.

"The rapid loss of natural areas poses a threat to our clean air, drinking water, food supplies and the ability of our children to get outside," Lee-Ashley said. "Nature is at the foundation of our economy, our health and our identity. And, in a warming world, we are increasingly dependent on healthy natural systems to protect us from the most damaging impacts of climate change."

The organization commissioned scientists with Conservation Science Partners to conduct the study, which includes the most detailed map ever composed of the human footprint in the contiguous 48 states. Dozens of datasets were analyzed and unique algorithms were used to map natural land loss that has occurred for nearly two decades.

The scientists who conducted the study are recommending policymakers take action to protect 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030, which would reduce extinctions and safeguard food supplies, drinking water and clean air. Action now would also help prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, a threshold beyond which scientists say the costs and effects of climate change worsen significantly.

"The good news is that the protection of nature is immensely popular across political lines, and is a value that unites the country," Lee-Ashley said. "Every community in the U.S. is working in some way to protect parks, open spaces, forests and coastlines. To slow and stop the decline of nature in the country, we simply need to do more — far more — to help local communities protect the places and wildlife that matter most to them."

Only 12 percent of the country’s land has been conserved as national parks, wilderness areas, permanent conservation easements, state parks, national wildlife refuges, national monuments, or other protected areas, the study shows. While 26 percent of America’s nationally owned ocean territory is safeguarded, nearly all of that is in the remote western Pacific Ocean or northwestern Hawaii.

The report offers key principles to guide the effort, including a commitment to uphold the sovereignty of tribal nations and protecting lands and waters in a way that reflects the priorities of communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities.