Conservation Efforts Offset Land Lost to Sprawl

The National Land Trust Census, conducted every five years by the Land Trust Alliance, has found that private lands under protective trusts and easements now total 37 million acres, a 54% increase from 2000. "Conservation of private land from 2000 to 2005 averaged 2.6 million acres a year — about half the size of New Jersey... This means additional land protected each year exceeds the 2.2 million acres that the Agriculture Department has estimated is converted annually to "developed land."