Have Your Say: The State of U.S. Nature

ASLA 2021 Professional General Design Honor Award. Ferrous Foundry Park. Lawrence, Massachusetts. Stimson / Ngoc Doan

By Jared Green

The Nature Record is the first national scientific assessment of the state of U.S. lands, rivers, coasts, and oceans, and wildlife. In nearly 900 pages, the draft report provides an ambitious overview of why nature is so central to our communities, economies, security, and resilience. The initiative seeks public comments on the draft by May 30. The assessment is expected to be published this fall.

The assessment, which has been four years in the making, outlines the dire condition for many U.S. ecosystems and species but also significant opportunities to further protect and restore nature. Woven throughout are compelling, data-based arguments for restoring nature for its own sake, leveraging nature-based solutions to address climate change, and increasing the health, economic, and cultural benefits of natural systems.

The Nature Record seeks to create a new kind of scientific synthesis, bringing together "knowledge, storytelling, and public participation." In contrast to the typical UN or US government report, it is far more accessible. Each chapter of the assessment includes key take-aways and useful graphics and charts policymakers, communities, and landscape architects can leverage. It reads like a well-written set of Nature journal op-eds.

The assessment is set within a framework of environmental justice and equity and integrates Indigenous approaches to stewardship. Organized into 16 chapters, it covers the current science on terrestrial, inland, and marine ecosystems and provides broad overviews of the relationship between nature and climate change, health and well-being, economic development, culture, and risk and security. There are also chapters on "bright spots" in nature conservation efforts and "place-based opportunities for nature."

Academic authors lead each chapter and have brought in a range of contributors. The research is being overseen by an expert secretariat and supported by an advisory group of universities, foundations, and companies.

"Each chapter of the assessment begins with a simple question: What do we most need to understand?," The Nature Record writes. The group has established a "rigorous, collaborative" process that pairs scientists with editors and graphic designers to turn the "many ways of seeing the world into one coherent, accessible story."

That story is largely one about terrestrial natural systems experiencing severe degradation and wildlife populations seeing significant decline over the past fifty years. But it is also about the great potential to make communities healthier and more resilient if we stop the destruction and significantly increase investment in nature.

In the continental U.S. and Canada, the assessment finds that the number of birds declined by nearly 3 billion (57%) between 1970 and 2017. "This decline occurred across all species groups, biomes, and regions, with grassland birds showing the greatest decline. More than a third of U.S. bird species are now of high or moderate conservation concern."

It shows a mixed picture for mammals, with bison and grey wolves recovering due to federal and state protections, but declines for small mammals, bats, and animals with specific habitat needs. "Unlike birds, there is no continent-wide monitoring system for mammals, which means that many declines are likely going undetected," they add.

Reptiles and amphibian populations are increasingly besieged. "Reptiles show widespread signs of stress, especially turtles, which are one of the most threatened vertebrate groups globally. Snakes and lizards also face pressures from land use change, climate change, and disease outbreaks such as snake fungal disease. Amphibians are at greater risk than any other class of terrestrial vertebrates, with an estimated half of all species imperiled. At current rates of decline, amphibian species may be extirpated from half their locations in the next 20 years."

Insects, which provide "essential functions such as pollination and biological control," are also decreasing in the U.S., with common species showing the sharpest drops, at nearly 8% per year. Key stressors include "land use change, climate change, pesticides, and invasive species." Butterfly populations declined by 22% between 2000 and 2020 with "more than 100 species declining by over 50% and 22 species by 90% or more."

According to the authors, plants form the foundation of food webs and "provide ecosystem structure, refuge, and food." The U.S. has 38,000 species of trees and plants. But many of these native and endemic species are also declining. "34% of America's plant species are at risk of extinction, including 48% of cactus species, 31% of ferns, 27% of orchids, 20% of trees, 19% of grasses, and 14% of sedges. All U.S. tropical forests, primarily located in Puerto Rico and Hawai'i, are imperiled, as are many temperate and boreal ecosystems." Loss of plant diversity is caused by "land use change, invasive species, pollution, overharvesting, and, increasingly, climate change."

"Surface and groundwaters are being withdrawn for use faster than they can be recharged." The report also looks into the state of water resources, and finds that rivers, lakes, and aquifers are "polluted by excessive nutrients, toxicants, and excessive fine sediment. Dams levees, impermeable surfaces, and diversions have fragmented natural flows that sustain river, wetland, riparian, lake, and groundwater ecosystems." Aquatic ecosystems have seen the loss of native species and growth of invasive and non-native species.

Amid the worrying trends, the "bright spots in nature restoration" provide a set of models for how to take action on biodiversity loss and increase communities' connections to nature. One highlight - the greening schoolyards work of the Trust for Public Land and landscape architects nationwide - "exemplifies how nature-based solutions can address inequities while delivering tangible benefits for people and the planet." Through a participatory design process, paved, "heat-trapping" schoolyards are becoming community green spaces that "increase physical activity, support social-emotional and academic outcomes, and build stronger community cohesion, particularly in neighborhoods historically lacking access to quality green space. These initiatives help redress disparities in access to nature."

John W. Cook Academy Space to Grow Schoolyard. Chicago, Illinois / site design group

On Earth Day in 2022, President Biden signed an executive order to initiate the assessment. With federal budget cuts under the current administration, the initiative became independent and is now being supported by the Resources Legacy Fund.

Comment on the draft assessment by May 30