WASHINGTON, DC (September 28, 2006) - Just weeks before the 13th annual National Public Lands Day* on September 30, the U.S. Forest Service has released a sobering analysis of the rapidly mounting threats our forests and open spaces face from development sprawl. According to the report, "Cooperating Across Boundaries-Partnerships to Conserve Open Space in Rural America," we lose 6,000 acres of open space each day, or four acres per minute, placing enormous stresses on our public lands, water supplies, wildlife habitat, and communities (get a copy of the report (pdf)).

"The levies around our remaining open spaces are leaking badly and inundating those places with development sprawl," said Tom Gilbert, director of eastern forest conservation for The Wilderness Society. "We don't have the luxury of waiting to see what happens. If we hesitate, if we dither, we will lose tens of millions of acres of open spaces and forests. We need to make the investment today before our wild places, favorite recreations areas and forests are buried forever under the coming flood of development."

The report also warns that as the rate of land development outpaces population growth, we lose not only our ability to manage public lands to maintain healthy forests and public recreation, we also lose critical ecosystem services such as wildlife habitat, clean drinking water, natural-resources-based jobs, and a sustainable output of forest products. The fastest growing areas include the South, Northeast, Rocky Mountain West, Upper Great Lakes, and Ozarks. In all these places, our remaining forests are particularly vulnerable, according to the report, with areas around national forests experiencing some of the highest growth rates.

Additional findings of the report include:

• 34 million acres of open space - an area the size of Illinois - lost to development between 1982 and 2001.
• 100,000 square miles of open space - an area the size of California - projected to be developed by 2020.
• 10 million acres of forests lost to development from 1982 to 1997.
• 26 million additional acres of forests expected to be lost to development by 2030 - close to an area the size of Georgia.
• 57 percent of U.S. forest lands are privately owned and unprotected from development.

Given these projections, the need to preserve our remaining forest lands and open spaces is growing by the hour. Conservation of these places, whether private or public, is critical to maintaining the health of our public lands, like national forests and wildlife refuges, our quality of life, and our recreational and economic opportunities.

• National forests are the single largest source of water in the U.S.
• 60 million people depend on public drinking water from watersheds containing national forests.
• 71 million Americans watch birds in our open spaces and forests.
• Birdwatchers spent $32 billion in 2001 furthering their interest.

The report describes cross-boundary partnerships between multiple levels of government, private interests and landowners as a promising tool to conserve open space in rural America. However, in our view, the missing ingredient in such efforts is often the funds needed to purchase lands or development rights in threatened areas. The best and quickest way to conserve these places is to invest in setting them aside before they are forever erased by development sprawl. The Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Forest Legacy Program are the two most effective federal tools to fund such land conservation. Sadly, both programs are seriously under-funded, having seen their funding wither or stagnate under Congressional budget pressures. At a time when even the Forest Service is projecting the dramatic loss of open space and forests over the next decade or two, Congress needs to reverse these unwise cuts.

*National Public Lands Day is the nation's largest hands-on volunteer effort to enhance the public lands Americans enjoy. In 2005, nearly 90,000 volunteers built trails and bridges, planted trees and plants, and removed trash and invasive plants.