What is NRI?

"The 2010 NRI is the latest in a series of natural resource inventories conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). It provides updated information on the status, condition, and trends of land, soil, water, and related resources on the Nation’s non-Federal lands. Non-Federal lands include privately owned lands, tribal and trust lands, and lands controlled by State and local governments."

Findings, in brief:

• 1.95 billion acres of land and water comprise the United States and it's territories.

• Non-Federal rural lands are predominantly rangeland (409 million acres), forest land (409 million acres), and cropland (361 million acres).

• From 2007-2010 Cropland increased by 2 million acres after a steady decline since 1990. "The increase was a little over 0.5 percent from 359 to 361 million acres." NRI, 2010, p. 7.

• Prime Farmland. About 23 percent (or 316 million acres) of the non-Federal rural land base is classified as prime farmland. This represents a loss of over 13 million acres since 1982; most of this loss was due to development.

• Development. About 43 million acres of land were newly developed between 1982 and 2010, bringing the total to about 113 million acres; that represents a 58 percent increase.

§ "Thus, more than 37 percent of developed land in the . . . states . . . was developed during the last 28 years." NRI, 2010, p. 8.

§ "Wetlands. Palustrine and Estuarine wetlands covered 7.2 percent of the water and non-Federal lands in the 48 conterminous states, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands." One million acres of classified wetlands were developed. NRI, 2010, p. 8.

Chesapeake bay farmlands and interlaced wetlands.