Quote Originally Posted by jitami View Post
You have a point, Rhea... but totally unscientifically, I find it hard to believe that 1000 acres of farmland creates more problems than covering that 1000 acres with apartments, tract housing, auto malls, more shopping centers with the exact same stores and restaurants as the one 5 miles down the road... you get the idea... even if it's aestetics only... I'd prefer farm land. No doubt, work still needs to be done with farm owners regarding water use, land erosion, and pestisides, but covering the area in asphalt can't possibly be better???
Let me give an example that gives anecdotal support.
A tract of land in Contra Costa County owned by a Cattle rancher was given to the East Bay Regional Park district in the late 80s. Initially the city/county wanted to buy it to turn it into a landfill, but the son of the rancher who ranched the land wouldn't have it, he wanted it to be available to the public.

Since then, they have found San Joaquin Kit Fox, California Red-legged Frogs, and other rare species living there. Glad it wasn't turned into a dump! It also since that time has become one of the only places in Contra Costa County that has Golden Eagles nesting there.

10 driving miles away from there is where my parents live. A developer bulldozed land and started to build, but now that land is bulldozed, with streets, but empty - and completely useless. What may have lived on that land that now is gone? Sure - it was farmland before, but a lot of the farmland there currently (largely fruit trees, corn, strawberries, grapes) supports a wide variety of wildlife. When they bulldoze it, it supports almost nothing.