Agricultural Development and Environmental Research American and Czechoslovak Perspectives: Proceedings of a Bilateral Workshop (1987) / Chapter Skim
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'LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY IN THE AGRICULTURAL FRINGE OF URBAN AREAS'
'LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY IN THE AGRICULTURAL FRINGE OF URBAN AREAS'
Pages 20-29
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From page 20... ...
In the fringe where city and country meet, agricultural activities are altered and, at the same time, new urban uses are spread out into rural territory. The rural/urban fringe becomes a problem area where impacts of society on the natural environment are especially evident in the landscape.
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From page 21... ...
The primary ecological problems associated with the expansion of the urban fringe are impacts of urbanization on rural land including agriculture. Before examining this pressure, however, it is necessary to look at the economic characteristics of fringe land in an ecological context.
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From page 22... ...
Soil Conservation Service -- a 1977 National Resources Inventory and a 1981 National Agricultural Lands Study -- found an annual loss of 1.2 million hectares of agricultural land to urbanization. The agency estimated that urban areas of the United States increased by 47.5 percent in the period 1967-1975 and that 28.4 percent of prime agricultural land lay within a 50-mile radius of the 100 largest urbanized areas.
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From page 23... ...
However, the 1975 Potential Cropland Study shows that urbanization pressure will be the greatest in areas where high-quality potential land is lowest, e.g., the northwestern and western states. Sinclair, in support of his hypothesis of less intensive land use in the urban fringe, cites a number of examples which are apparent in the landscape.
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From page 24... ...
Nevertheless, suitcase farmers still exist and have an adverse impact on the land by plowing and planting land that does not represent their main source of livelihood, thus creating a situation that is likely to be harmful ecologically. The Great Plains region is an environment of risk agriculture because of low and irregular precipitation, and evidence shows that risk agriculture is less stable when operated on an absentee basis.
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From page 25... ...
In some cases, these settlements are retirement communities located on rural land close to forest areas and lakes, representing minor loss of prime agricultural land. More often, however, they are, in effect, dormitory subdivisions on prime agricultural land with neglible commitment to the rural area.
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From page 26... ...
Construction materials, including both gravel pits and stone quarries, take urban fringe land away from other uses, especially near cities where proximity reduces the high cost of transporting these bulky materials. The impact of surface coal-mining activities is particularly severe because the pits are extensive and expensive to reclaim.
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From page 27... ...
By far the most common is tax relief from paying market values based on potential urban use. Thus, differential assessment in 28 states permits lower agricultural use-value assessment if the farmer agrees to continue farming.
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From page 28... ...
Such zoning reduces the demand for lots because their cost discourages land speculation and subdivision development. In the 1970s, some 270 communities in the United States implemented agricultural zoning programs; a sample of these shows the method to be effective in preserving agricultural land.
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From page 29... ...
1983. Beyond the urban fringe: Land issues of nonmetropolitan America.
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