Private Land Loss Rate Doubles in 1990s

December 8, 1999

The nation's "natural resources inventory" shows nearly 16 million acres of agricultural and forest land were developed from 1992 to 1997. Now 3 million acres per year of agricultural and forest land are being lost each year, double the rate of loss from 1982 to 1992. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman called for a national conference on conservation next year. The report could prove to be an impetus for a larger Conservation Reserve Program.

Private land accounts for about 70% of all land in the United States. The inventory shows that from 1992-97 nearly 2 billion tons of soil is eroding into waterways each ydar. 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 a year on agricultural land, but wetland preservation efforts, like the Wetland Reserve Program, are helping. Wetland gains are nearly 30,000 acres.

Tree and forest cover in urban areas is declining at an alarming rate, the inventory shows. In the Chesapeake Bay region, for example, tree canopy has declined from 51% cover to 37% in the last 25 years.

On a per acre basis now, Glickman said at National Summit on Private Lands Conservation in Ames, IA, Tuesday, the federal government spends about $5 to manage public lands for every $1 spent on conservation. The CRP "is bumping up against its 36.4 million acre ceiling, and we don't expect to enroll significant new acreage for several years," he said.

The Farm Protection Program is underfunded, the Wetland Reserve Program is nearly full and "we have twice as many requests as we can satisfy. We also don't have the technical field personnel necessary to carry out our programs since the conservation assistance workforce has been cut significantly since 1985," he added.

Additional information on the National Conservation Summit on Private Land and the report can be obtained on the Internet at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/