[lbo-talk] Land use in the US (was national parks, was Narmada Dam)

[John Thornton]

James Heartfield wrote:
> Forgive me, but further on US land use:
>
> "The United States has a total land area of nearly 2.3 billion acres. Major 
> uses in 2002 were forest-use land, 651 million acres (28.8 percent); 
> grassland pasture and range land, 587 million acres (25.9 percent); 
> cropland, 442 million acres (19.5 percent); special uses (primarily parks 
> and wildlife areas), 297 million acres (13.1 percent); miscellaneous other 
> uses, 228 million acres (10.1 percent); and urban land, 60 million acres 
> (2.6 percent)."
> http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/EIB14/
>
> Let's just look at that again, shall we? 
>   

So 26% is grazing, 20% is cropland, 2.6% Urban, 10% suburb/exurb and 29% 
forest-use of which 100% is open to logging and over 85% has been logged 
at some point in the last 75 years, and wildlife has a whopping 12% 
generally cut into tracts that are not large enough to sustain a viable 
wildlife population.
Urban and suburb/exurb is 13% and growing at 25% per 20 year period and 
wilderness is 13% and growing at less than 1% per 20 year period.
I can't argue with these numbers James, I agree with them 100%. I'm glad 
to see you do to.

John Thornton