Wilderness Preserves Spur Land Development (1/13/2008)

Conservation agencies that purchase wilderness areas to protect them from development may inadvertently spur development adjacent to their preserves. That was the finding of a team of researchers who studied changes in land use surrounding preserves in North Carolina, Massachusetts and Arizona. The researchers reported their study in Conservation Biology, a publication of the Society for Conservation Biology.

"Protected lands appear to be an amenity that increases nearby development," said lead researcher Robert McDonald, Ph.D., a landscape ecologist at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Conservationists widely believe their efforts to preserve wilderness will inspire neighboring landowners to safeguard their parcels. Yet the principle, called leverage, has rarely been tested. When McDonald and his colleagues examined changes in the use of land bordering preserves, they found two opposite trends. Private property adjoining protected land was more likely to be protected in the future by conservationists, but was also more likely to be developed into residences. The rate of development on property adjoining preserves near North Carolina's Nantahala National Forest was significantly greater than other private land in the region. The researchers found a similar surge on land near the Tonto National Forest and Gila River Indian Reservation outside Phoenix.

Some conservation organizations curtail such development by buying property to enlarge existing preserves. In theory, that would benefit wildlife. But the researchers warn that many large preserves set aside a century ago to protect water quality and trees, harbor limited wildlife. Focusing conservation in these areas might shortchange other regions where biodiversity is threatened.

"Increased land protection and increased development near previously protected lands suggests that each conservation action should be justified and valued largely for what is protected on the targeted land," says McDonald.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Blackwell Publishing

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