The rate at - land conversion - Brief Article

American Forests, Spring, 2000

The rate at which nonfederal farmland, forest, and open space was converted to subdivisions or other commercial development doubled during the last decade, according to a December Department of Agriculture report. The agency, which conducts the National Resources Inventory every five years, found the biggest annual conversions in Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, California, Tennessee, and Michigan.

Landowners converted almost 16 million acres of open space between 1992 and 1997, the report said.