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Urbanization and the loss of agricultural lands and wetlands
| Author: |
Dillman, Buddy L.; Reynolds, John E.; Tomerlin, Arthur T.; Linn, Stacey R. |
| Date: |
1993 |
| Periodical: |
In: Thumberg, Eric M.; Reynolds, John R., eds. Urbanization and Development Effects on the Use of Natural Resources: Proceedings of a Regional Workshop; 1992 October; Clear Water Beach, FL. SREIG-10 Publication No. 11. MS: Southern Natural Resources Econ |
| Abstract: |
This study is concerned with the conversion of agricultural lands and wetlands. The interpretation of land use at sample points provides estimates of the types and quantities of land that are converted to urban uses as population growth occurs in urbanizing areas. By interpreting land use at sample points at three points in time, the quantity changes can be estimated and the sequences of change can be identified. The principal institutional effects contributing to these land use changes are regulatory restrictions and economic incentives. In general, the primary difference between the two study areas is that in South Carolina a greater proportion of the study area was classified as wetlands in the 1970s and more of the land being converted to urban uses comes from wetlands than in the Florida study area. About 43 percent of the land converted to urban uses in the South Carolina area came from wetlands as compared to 6.7 percent in the Florida area. In the Florida study area about 62 percent of the land converted to urban uses came from forestland, range and agricultural land as compared to 34.7 percent in the South Carolina area. Between 20 and 30 percent of the land converted to urban uses came from the land in transition category for the two study areas. In the examination of the Southeast region data from the national study, ERS researchers noted that large acreages of wetlands were converted to agriculture and forestry while substantial acreages of agricultural land and forest land were being converted to urban uses. This led to the hypothesis of a possible sequence of land use changes in which wetlands may be converted first to agriculture and forestry and then to urban uses (Heimlich 1989). The results from both the Florida and South Carolina study areas rejects this hypothesis, since very little land was converted from wetlands to agriculture or forestry. In Florida, only 160 acres were converted from wetland to agriculture or forestry --2.6 percent of the total acreage of wetland converted to other uses. In South Carolina, 490 acres of wetlands were converted to agriculture and forestry during the 1970s and only 210 acres during the 1980s. In both study areas, most of the wetland conversion was directly to urban uses. In the South Carolina study area, about 74 percent of the wetland conversion went directly to urban uses in both time periods. In Florida, about 64 percent of the wetland conversion was for urban uses. it would be interesting to know what happens to agricultural producers as they are displaced by urban expansion. Do they move to other rural areas and reestablish their agricultural operations? If so, are wetlands in these more distant locations converted to agricultural or forestry uses? This study was designed to examine land use changes in the urban fringe areas and cannot answer these types of questions. But future research might focus on identifying the areas and types of situations where wetlands are converted to agricultural and forestry uses. The principal institutional effects contributing to the land use changes observed in this study are regulatory restrictions and economic incentives. Although resources were not available to examine these effects in this study, additional research should focus on testing the economic and institutional effects on land use changes in the urban fringe. |
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