NRI Numbers Correction on Open Space

In January 2000 (

Vol. 9, No. 1), we reported on the just-released

National Resources Inventory (NRI) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, which tracks land uses every five years. The 1997 USDA figures, it turns out, were incorrect due to a software error. The reported rate at which open space is being lost to development between 1992 and 1997 was 30% high. Rather than the 3.2% increase in developed land per year during that five-year period, the actual rate was 2.2%. The total increase in developed land area between 1992 and 1997 was 11.2 million acres (4.5 million ha), not 16 million acres (6.5 million ha). For more information, see

www.nhq.nrcs.usda.gov/NRI/.