Chapter 2 The Need for Conservation
Claggett 2015) . The forests, wetlands, farms and fields, and natural communities that cover North Carolina contribute to the health of the state’s ecosystems, its economic prosperity, and the quality of life of North Carolina’s citizens. However, rapid residential and commercial development in many areas of the state over the last several decades has resulted in the land use change of millions of acres of important land cover (Dutzik, Schneider 2012) .
Land use acreage described in the NC Natural and Working Lands (NWL) Action Plan (Warnell 2020) is summarized in Table 2 .3 -2.
Table 2.3-2 Land use types, in millions of acres (Warnell 2020 1 , USDA 2022 2 ) . Land Use Acres Forests 2 18.7 Agriculture 1 6.9 Wetlands (woody & herbaceous) 1 4.9 Other Use 1 1.6 Developed 1 3.6
According to the American Farmland Trust (AFT 2020) agricultural land protection scorecard, North Carolina is among the top states for the conversion of agricultural land to residential development, urban, and highly developed land uses. The American Farmland Trust estimates North Carolina will lose 12% (nearly 2 million acres) of farmland by 2040, which puts it second in the nation of projected acres of farmland loss (behind Texas) (AFT 2025) . Added to the loss of farmland from development conversion is the expected loss of over 17,000 acres by 2040 in coastal areas due to sea level rise (AFT 2022) . The NWL Action Plan notes that developed land use increased by 9% over the period between 2000 and 2017, with a corresponding decrease in cropland and wetland land cover. Figure 2 .3 - 1 shows land use types by percentage of cover. Figure 2 . 3 -2 compares land use changes between 2001 and 2016 by land cover types.
2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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