The contiguous 48 states, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands cover over 1.94 billion acres of land and water; about 71 percent of this area is privately owned rural land – nearly 1.4 billion acres.
These rural lands are predominantly forest land (413 million acres), rangeland (406 million acres), and cropland (363 million acres).
Private lands represent the forefront of the conservation marketplace in the 21st century. Privately owned lands hold the key to protecting biodiversity, the uptake of sustainable agriculture and forestry, and the protection of open spaces – especially along the suburban fringe of our expanding metropolitan areas.
A confluence of factors has increased the need for the kind of multi-faceted conservation approach required to improve and accelerate conservation on private lands. They include:
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