The effects of residential development

This link goes to a very interesting graphic that goes with the linked article below about a recent Mass Audubon Society report on Massachusetts land use and development.

http://www.boston.com/interactive/graphics/2009_05ecology/

(snip)
Through the 1990s and the early part of this decade, forests and fields were being developed - mostly into new home sites - at the rate of about 40 acres a day. In recent years, the study shows, that number was cut nearly in half, to about 22 acres a day.

At the same time, conservation efforts have stepped up, so that each day 43 acres of land are protected as open space, usually through legal agreements with private owners or purchases by conservation groups or the state.
(snip)

(snip)
The slowed pace of development probably has more to do with flat population growth - and more recently the recession - than dramatic changes in zoning and other laws limiting home construction, officials say.
(snip)

(snip)
The study shows that as construction intensifies in many parts of Central and Southeast Massachusetts, the front line of development is pushing its way into forest and farm lands near the Quabbin Reservoir, along the Connecticut River, and even in a part of the Berkshires.

And although many Bay Staters are adopting greener habits, they continue to build larger and larger homes - from 2,260 square feet on average in 2001 to 2,700 square feet today. In 1970, the average house size was 1,572 square feet.

Those enormous homes, Mass Audubon officials say, release more global warming pollution and have a larger effect on nature. For example, the scarlet tanager bird, which lives in forest interiors, is likely to disappear in places where housing lots fragment large tracts of woods.
(snip)

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/18/more_land_saved_than_developed_study_finds