A.1 Top 20 Threatened Major Land Resource Areas in the U.S.
(as ranked by market value of agricultural production, development pressure and land quality)
Rank | Major Land Resource Area | State(s) | Score |
1 | Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys | CA | 1120 |
2 | Northern Piedmont | MD, NJ, PA, VA | 537 |
3 | Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois Drift Plain | IL, WI | 514 |
4 | Texas Blackland Prairie TX | 504 |
5 | Willamette and Puget Sound Valleys | OR, WA | 445 |
6 | Florida Everglades and Associated Areas | FL | 439 |
7 | Eastern Ohio Till Plain | OH | 363 |
8 | Lower Rio Grande Plain | TX | 336 |
9 | Mid-Atlantic Costal Plain | DE, MD | 280 |
10 | New England and Eastern New York Upland, Southern Part | CT, MA, NH, NJ, NY, RI | 267 |
11 | Ontario Plain and Finger Lakes Region | NY | 252 |
12 | Nashville Basin | TN | 224 |
13 | Central Snake River Plains | ID | 193 |
14 | Southwestern Michigan Fruit and Truck Belt | MI | 185 |
15 | Central California Coastal Valleys | CA | 184 |
16 | Columbia Basin | WA | 141 |
17 | Imperial Valley | CA | 136 |
18 | Long Island-Cape Cod Coastal Lowland | MA, NY, RI | 136 |
19 | Connecticut Valley | CT, MA | 119 |
20 | Western Michigan Fruit and Truck Belt | MI, WI | 92 |
SUMMARY: The country's 181 geographic regions known as Major Land Resource Areas were analyzed and ranked based on an overall score considering:
1) market value of agricultural production,
2) development pressure and
3) land quality.
The resultant list of top 20 threatened MLRAs - ranging in size from 2,300 to 20,090 square miles - collectively represent only 7 percent of the nation's land, excluding Alaska and Hawaii, but account for 21 percent of the nation's prime or unique farmland lost to urban development. Furthermore, these 20 MLRAs alone are responsible for 51 percent of the United States' fruit production, 39 percent of vegetable production, 28 percent of dairy production, 9 percent of meat production and 6 percent of grain production.
Source:Top 20 Threatened Major Land Resource Areas in the US at Environmental Frontlines
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last updated 16 Apr 2002
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