Based in Denver, entrepreneur Spencer Schar has a keen interest in land use and educating himself on development planning, architectural styles, and the political landscape. This article will take a closer look at land use in Colorado, exploring how a booming local population has impacted land use distribution.
On February 1, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order that established the goal of “conserving at least 30% of our lands and waters by 2030.” According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Colorado’s population increased by 15% between 2010 and 2020. As the population grows, a need for increased infrastructure and development grows with it. The attached PDF delves deeper into the history of Colorado, the Centennial City.
One way to achieve President Biden’s target of conserving 30% of America’s lands and waters is by establishing conservation easements to conserve the land in perpetuity. From 2013 to 2023, ArcGIS conducted a study observing changing land cover along Colorado’s Front Range, comparing it to an equivalent-sized area protected by conservation easements. Using Landsat imagery collected between 2013 and 2023, ArcGIS assessed the rate of change of land cover along the Front Range throughout this period of rapid population growth. The attached video contains more information about Landsat Science.
Comparing the results, the ArcGIS team observed a risk to insufficiently protected land along Colorado’s Front Range should the region’s population continue to grow and development continue at the same rate. Rising development rates around cities have become a nationally observed phenomenon in recent years. To protect the nation’s lands and waters for generations to come, ArcGIS suggests an urgent need to protect more land with conservation easements.
According to a report published by ArcGIS, the Front Range changed significantly between 2013 and 2023. Over the course of a decade, developed landcover increased from 28.5% to 30.7% of the AOI, representing a 7.7% growth rate. Meanwhile, the local population grew by 15% over the same period.
As Colorado’s Metro Denver area continues to expand, communities such as Thornton and Broomfield have purchased water rights from local farmers to meet the needs of growing urban populations. As farmers evaluate their options for the future, there are concerns that prime agricultural land along the Front Range is at risk of drying up, with questions surrounding the provision of adequate water supplies. There are also calls for moves to level the playing field in terms of equal distribution of economic growth across Colorado. The attached infographic takes a closer look at Colorado’s economy and the state’s most important industries today.
