Sprawl Endangers Hundreds of Nation’s Imperiled Species
New Study Shows Metro Areas With Highest Risk
 The rapid consumption of land in the nation’s fastest-growing large metropolitan areas could threaten the survival of nearly one out of every three imperiled species, according to the first study ever to quantify the impact of sprawling development on wildlife nationally. In at least three dozen rapidly-growing counties found mostly in the South and West, open space on non-federal lands is being lost so quickly that essential wildlife habitat will be mostly gone within the next two decades, unless development patterns are altered.
According to the report Endangered By Sprawl: How Runaway Development Threatens America’s Wildlife, produced by the National Wildlife Federation, Smart Growth America, and NatureServe, the rapid conversion of once-natural areas and farmland into subdivisions, shopping centers, roads and parking lots has become a leading threat to America’s native plants and animals.
Additional Media Materials
 Download Figure 1: Top 20 Counties with Greatest Ratio of Projected Demand to Available Supply (PDF file, 274K).
Download Figure 2: Top 20 Counties with the Most Open Space Projected to be Developed Through 2025 Under Existing Sprawl Patterns (PDF file, 250K).
Download Figure 3: Top 20 Counties in Fastest-Growing Large Metro Areas with the Largest Number of Imperiled Species (PDF file, 303K).
Download Appendix B: Metropolitan Area Data for Top 35 Fastest-Growing Large Metro Areas (PDF file, 170K).
Download Full List of Imperiled Species by Metropolitan Area and County
(PDF file, 106K).
Media Inquiries: contact Kyle Copas, Director of Communications, 703-908-1895, or by email at kyle_copas@natureserve.org.
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