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Latest News: The Open Space Conservation Strategy has been released. The National Forests on the Edge report has been released.

Open space is vital to our health, economy and well-being.  Public and private lands, including wilderness and working land, provide public benefits and ecosystem services we all need and enjoy, including:

• Clean water
• Natural flood control
• Wildlife habitat and biodiversity
• Recreation and relaxation
• Timber and other forest products
• Jobs

An estimated 6,000 acres of open space are lost each day, a rate of 4 acres per minute. Looking ahead, the Forests on the Edge project estimates that 44 million acres of private forest lands could experience sizeable increases in housing density by 2030. Public forests are also affected -- the new National Forests on the Edge publication estimates that 21 million acres of private rural lands near national forests and grasslands will experience substantial housing density increases by 2030.

The Forest Service has developed a Open Space Conservation Strategy to identify how the agency can best help conserve open space, with an emphasis on partnerships and collaborative approaches. The agency is interested in addressing the effects of the loss of open space on private forests; on National Forests and Grasslands and the surrounding landscape; and on forests in cities, suburbs, and towns.

The Forest Service recognizes that it is not the only contributor to open space conservation; it is only one among many.  The Forest Service also acknowledges that the agency’s role in open space conservation is not to regulate development or land use, but is to provide expertise, resources, information, and programs. 

For more information about open space and current Forest Service conservation tools, view our publication Cooperating Across Boundaries and the Resources and Tools page.