Sprawl Endagers Hundreds of Nation's Imperiled Species

RESTON, Va. (Jan. 20) -- The rapid consumption of land in the nation's fastest-growing large metropolitan areas could threaten the survival of nearly one out of every three imperiled species, according to the first study ever to quantify the impact of sprawling development on wildlife nationally.

According to the report Endangered By Sprawl: How Runaway Development
Threatens America's Wildlife, produced by the National Wildlife
Federation, Smart Growth America, and NatureServe, the rapid conversion
of once-natural areas and farmland into subdivisions, shopping centers,
roads and parking lots has become a leading threat to America's native
plants and animals.

The report recommends ways to stem the tide of habitat loss by changing
local land use patterns and improving state and federal natural resource
and transportation policies. "To check runaway land consumption, we need to
provide incentives for development in existing urban and suburban areas, build new development at higher densities, and set aside natural areas as off limits to new
development." said Don Chen, Executive Director of Smart Growth America.
Endangered by Sprawl integrates widely accepted measures of development
density and projections of population growth with a new analysis of the
comprehensive data on rare and endangered species that is compiled by
the NatureServe network of state natural heritage programs. It shows
that imperiled plants and animals are not found only in remote
wildernesses; their habitat is often intertwined with where most people
live. "Forests, wetlands, and grasslands in and around cities and suburbs
are essential habitat for many imperiled species, as well as the more
common birds and wildlife that we know and love," said Bruce Stein,
Vice President for Programs at NatureServe. "We need to value and
protect these nearby open spaces for wildlife habitat just as we do
far-off national parks and wilderness areas."
The study also highlights the forward-looking efforts of some
localities to identify critical habitats and preserve them even as their
regions grow. Drawing on these best practices, the report recommends
tools and strategies that local governments can employ to protect open
space and biodiversity, including creating and maintaining natural
resource and species inventories, establishing regional cooperation,
developing green infrastructure protection plans, protecting critical
natural habitats, and building reliable local funding sources for
habitat protection.

"The bottom line is, we live where the wild things are," said
report co-author Reid Ewing, a Professor at the National Center for
Smart Growth and in Urban Studies and Planning at the University of
Maryland. "We need to do a better job accommodating the natural
environment along with the human environment. With proper planning, it
doesn't have to be a question of us versus them or development for
people versus habitat for wildlife."

To read the report, go to:
http://www.nwf.org/nwfwebadmin/binaryVault/EndangeredBySprawlFinal.pdf

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