Wisconsin research looks at residential development near protected lands

MADISON (WPR)  A home near federally protected land may sound like paradise. But researchers at UW-Madison have compiled what may be the most comprehensive look at the threat of housing development in rural areas.

Conservationists have long raised concerns about housing springing up just outside national parks, forests and wilderness areas, and sometimes within those lands. UW-Madison Forest and Wildlife Ecology professor Volker Radeloff says he understands the desire to live next to nature.

Radeloff and a research team have counted housing units with 50 kilometers of all the protected lands in the lower 48 states, and found a quadruple increase in those units since 1940.

The scientists say all the development has fueled the spread of invasive species, and threatened wildlife like ground nesting birds. The UW study, done with support from the Forest Service, also predicts the number of homes near protected lands will continue to grow in the next two decades.

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Information from Wisconsin Public Radio, www.wpr.org