Major Uses of Land in the United States 2007

Book excerpt: The United States has a total land area of nearly 2.3 billion acres. The Economic Research Service's Major Land Uses (MLU) series is the only accounting of all major uses of public and private land in all 50 States. These State estimates were started in 1945 and have been consistently published at roughly 5-year intervals, coinciding with the Census of Agriculture. Land use and land-use changes involve important economic and environmental implications for commodity production and trade, open space, soil and water conservation, and other policy issues. To study land-use change, statistics on land use over time must be developed. This publication presents the results of the latest inventory (2007) of U.S. major land uses and discusses national and regional trends in land use compared with earlier estimates. Data from USDA's Forest Service, National Agricultural Statistics Service, the U.S. Census Bureau, public land management and conservation agencies, and other sources were compiled by State to estimate the uses of several broad classes and subclasses of land in 2007.