About Losing Ground

Over the past 40 years, the landscape of Massachusetts has been transformed by new residential and commercial development. Eastern and southeastern Massachusetts have undergone the most change, but virtually every community in the Commonwealth has experienced rapid growth driven by economic and demographic factors.

Starting in 1991, Mass Audubon’s Losing Ground series has analyzed these changes every 5 years using the most up-to-date technology and methods, providing conservationists, town planners, and agencies with information for planning and advocacy.

This edition of Losing Ground examines:

• recent changes in land use based on data from 1999 through 2005
  
  
• the ecological impacts of development over a longer period of time, from 1971-2005

These analyses capture change in Massachusetts prior to the current, severe economic downturn. Although data are not available on the rate of development at present, it is a safe assumption that development has stalled significantly in the current economic climate.

While the troubled economy is a serious challenge for our state and its people, it provides an opportunity for those concerned with land conservation to assess our progress thus far, enhance our communication and coordination, and strategically plan to continue to protect the most important land, so that we can sustain our supply of clean water, our biodiversity and wildlife habitat, and the recreational and psychological services provided by land in its natural—or nearly natural—condition.

To make the data more understandable, we have created interactive tables and maps that show information by geographic area. We also provide a list of other resources that groups and individuals can use to understand and encourage land conservation.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) provided a portion of the funding for the Conservation Assessment and Prioritization System (CAPS) analysis conducted by the University of Massachusetts, which allowed us to examine the ecological impacts of development.