No place in the country has undergone a bigger change in land use between 1973 and 2000 than what's called the Puget lowlands ecoregion.  During that time, 29 percent of the land converted from one type of use to another, according to findings of a study by the U.S. Geological Survey reported in the Seattle Times.  Over the past thirty years, the central Cascades have lost 1.7 million acres of forest or 28 percent of the area's forest land to other uses.

In addition to consuming habitat and open space, sprawl is associated with greater water and energy use than more compact, responsible land use development, as well as more urban runoff and water pollution from the increase in impervious surfaces.  In short, sprawl has permanently altered or destroyed precious natural resources as well as the accessibility and quality of our connection to these natural areas.

Urban parks and open space present a particular challenge since they compete with many other needs that cities must accommodate within a limited land mass, such as housing, transportation or commerce.  Since parks are usually not considered on the same economic scale as those other uses, it takes vision and a good deal of community support and political will for new parks to be created.

Like many areas around the country, we have struggled with population growth and how best to accommodate it.  A recent study defined sprawl as the process by which the spread of development across the landscape outpaces population growth.  Sprawl has four dimensions: a population that is widely dispersed in low density development; rigidly separated homes, shops, and workplaces; a network of roads marked by huge blocks and poor access; and a lack of well-defined, thriving activity centers, such as downtowns and town centers.  These dimensions are captured in the indicators of planned density and land use mix. 

Sprawl certainly describes much of the story of land use in Puget Sound but there have also been important efforts to stem sprawl that have met with some success.  Much of what remains of King County’s agricultural land now lies in protected agricultural production districts where land use is limited to agriculture.  Other rural lands carry restrictions on development as to the number of dwelling units, usually one dwelling unit for every five or ten acres.  In addition, many forest and agricultural lands are enrolled in open space incentive programs or managed under stewardship plans. 

The share of permitted new residential development in urban growth areas is up from 77% in 1985 to 86% in 2006.  However, a sizeable share still occurs outside urban boundaries in areas less easily served by existing infrastructure.

Perhaps the greatest cost of all is that which can’t be replaced.  Sprawl and low-density development contributes to significant reductions in forest and farm land.  Their loss impacts numerous species dependent on natural habitat as well as reducing the many environmental benefits these lands provide such as water interception, filtering and storage. In consequence to the spread of impervious surfaces, we are interrupting the water cycle and impacting freshwater habitat.  Eventually, polluted runoff both from impervious surfaces and from farmland treated with chemicals finds it way into the Sound. 

As the Puget Sound Regional Council describes in its Vision 2040 report:  "Over the past century, urban and suburban development has converted natural areas and open space throughout [Central Puget Sound].  The result is fragmentation of open space areas, including wildlife habitat and corridors, and depletion of important resource lands, including farms and forests.  Encroachment on natural resource lands by residential development has also created conflicts between residents and long-term resource use.  Poorly planned development and urban sprawl have damaged habitat and ecosystems, contaminated lands and waterways, and contributed to polluted air."