GEO-6 Assessment for North America

GEO-6 Regional Assessment for North America Hectares (millions)

Percentage

Figure 2.2.2: Major uses of land (US), 1949-2012

0.0 50.0 100.0 150.0 200.0 250.0 300.0 350.0

Years Cropland Grassland, pasture, and range

Special Uses Urban Areas

Forest Miscellaneous Other Uses Source: Adapted from Nickerson et al. 2011

wilderness areas and National Parks, or land with trees where other factors, such as steep slopes, constrain timber harvesting. There were 29.7 million hectares in the ‘reserved’ category and 69.4 million hectares in the ‘other’ category in 2012. The area of timberland grew by just over 2.8 million hectares since 2007 and the area of forest by 5.7 million hectares, implying that the forest identified as ‘reserved’ or ‘other’ also gained 2.8 million hectares since 2007. This total reflects a net gain of about 14.6 million hectares, 6 per cent, between 1977 and 2012, which is attributed largely to reversion of pasture and other agricultural lands to forest, as well as reclassification of some National Forest lands to align with classifications used on other land ownerships (Oswalt et al. 2014).

Urban and developed area trends

The number of people living in rural counties stood at 46.2 million in 2014; nearly 15 per cent of US residents spread

40

The loss of population and decline in rural communities reflects a “hollowing out” of the vast central regions of the country, where both agriculture and industry drove economic growth and middle-class prosperity in the last half of the 20th century. Although many studies document the departure of young people, ages 20-24, from rural areas and characterize it as a “brain drain,” a recent study by Cromartie et al. (2015) offers reasons why people return to settle in rural areas. The majority of the returnees were in their early to mid-30s with young children. Their primary

Figure 2.2.3: Population change by metropolitan/ nonmetropolitan census status, 1976-2014

-0.4 0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service 2015

across 72 per cent of the nation’s land. Rural areas lost population to developed urban and suburban areas between July 2013 and July 2014, continuing a 4-year trend. Rural population growth from net migration peaked in 2006, then declined precipitously and shifted geographically in response to rising unemployment, housing-market challenges, and energy sector developments, among other factors. Suburban expansion and migration to scenic retirement or recreation destinations have been primary drivers of rural demographic change for several decades, but since the onset of the 2007- 2008 recession, their influence has considerably weakened, Figure 2.2.3 (USDA 2015).

Metro USA Nonmetro

1949

1959

1964

1969

1974

1978

1982

1987

1992

1997

2002

2007

2012

1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2010 2014

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