ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the two problems--of conversion and encroachment--in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan contexts. It addresses changes in the urban land base and the consequences for the future of forestry. The chapter considers how and to what extent urban growth is likely to impact forestry. Urban activities that affect forestry include urban expansion, noncontiguous urban development, urban support activities, and urban spillover. Urban support activities are land uses that are not rural in function, but which consume substantial amounts of rural space while primarily serving urban areas. Lack of appropriate and accurate data on forest land use and conversion seems to plague forest managers nationwide. Forecasts of forest land conversion resulting from future population growth in nonmetropolitan counties are based on a number of assumptions. The forecasts for additional space to accommodate the activities promise to be less troublesome for forestry than are the forecasts for contiguous urban growth in metropolitan areas and for nonmetropolitan population growth.
