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Extinction is nothing new in North America. Nor is fire or flooding, grazing, logging, or irrigation farming. What has changed over the past century is the unprecedented scale and frequency of these disturbances as human changes in land use accelerate across the landscape. That acceleration has been difficult to keep track of, let alone make sense of. We have been too busy dealing with sudden crises - where human and natural events compound - to step back and assess the broad land use patterns behind each crisis. But this publication does just that, and it does so just in time.

For land use and open-space planning are suddenly hot political topics, and for good reason. Urban development now blankets 2.7% of America's surface area (roughly the size of Minnesota) and targets our Nation's most fertile soils. Concerned about this sprawl, traffic congestion, the loss of 7,000 acres of farmland and meadows every day, and escalating costs of suppressing fire in urban interfaces, state and local ballots offered a record 200 open space, land use, and conservation initiatives in 1998. More than 70 percent of these measures passed. Voters approved $7 billion for "smart growth" initiatives to preserve open space.

But what does that mean? How is "open space" defined? Who draws the land-use blueprints, and how? Through this report the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are giving scientists and laypersons alike the proper tools to answer precisely these questions.

Weaving the habitat needs of plant and animal species with the spatial and resource needs of humanity will require new skills and new patterns of collaboration by all. But there are incentives. For this open space movement and the funding and good will that it generates provide an unprecedented opportunity for conservation scientists to work effectively with the public. Imagine those resources going to build and shape science-based habitat conservation plans, protect critical wetlands, restore fire to its healthy ecological role in the wild, and preserve migration corridors for wildlife.

The flip side - if we ignore the truths presented in this publication - is that the open space and livable communities desired by our people will lose out to short-term, unplanned growth, with no scientific context or connection to the land. That outcome would be more than disappointing: it would be a missed opportunity to shape modern society in a way that benefits people and the natural world, fuse the wants of humans with the needs of creation, and dovetail our concept of "open space" with "habitat."

In theory, these twin values have been the goal all along, ever since Noah emerged from his ark. In practice, it has proven a thorny dilemma. What we lack is a broader, overarching perspective on land use that allows all parties to step back from specific issues and see a bigger picture.

The overarching lesson from a historical look at land use in America - as developed in this book - is that we need to address open space and habitat conservation from the very beginning, and get going on the front end with more effective planning, involving both civic leaders and conservation biologists. This kind of collaboration requires innovation, development, and outreach and some degree of mutual trust. Now is our chance to forge a better way.

Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior
September 8, 1999