by: Lisa Hallo, Heather Nix, and Pam Barber

As Upstate residents, we are fortunate to inhabit a special part of this Earth. With its breathtaking landscapes, award-winning parks, and high quality of life, it’s no wonder our region is experiencing unprecedented growth.

However, we urgently need to change our sprawling development practices. Reducing sprawl is not just an environmental issue — it’s a quality of life issue. Here are some ways that sprawl threatens the Upstate’s natural resources and special character.

Impervious surfaces — pavement and rooftops — are bad for water quality.

As we replace forests and grasslands with pavement and rooftops, less rain is able to soak into the ground, which means more of it runs off into our streams, rivers, and lakes. As the stormwater runs off a site, it picks up trash and pollutants.

If not properly managed, this results in degraded waterways, excessive erosion, and increased flood levels. Typically, local governments manage development on a site-by-site basis. However, this doesn’t take into account that the overall development pattern has a tremendous influence on cumulative water quality impacts to a community.

Sprawling roads mean more traffic and reduced air quality.

For decades, we have designed our communities for cars versus people, investing billions of dollars in extensive highway systems that ferry single-occupant personal vehicles from destination to destination. And in almost every case, those destinations are vast distances from our homes, making it nearly impossible to walk or bike to where we need to go.

This system – while “convenient” for those fortunate enough to own a car – comes at a cost. According to a recent article, a third of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions result from the transportation sector, which is bad news for air quality.

Not only that, this vast system of sprawling pavement is expensive to build and maintain. Until we start building our communities differently, we will continue to pay the price – in more ways than one.

Sprawl fragments the landscape and reduces nature’s ability to adapt.

The diversity of plant and wildlife communities in the Upstate is truly remarkable — it’s part of what contributes to our rich natural heritage.

As climate changes, plants and animals must be able to shift their ranges to adapt. Landscapes fragmented by development prevent these range shifts and also impede the natural processes that can best protect society from predicted drought, increasing temperatures, and extreme weather.

When sprawling development fragments the landscape, it can have disastrous effects. If we don’t make positive changes to our development patterns, we will lose natural buffers to extreme weather and see many local species disappear for good.

Want to support Upstate Forever’s work to reduce sprawl, preserve green space, and protect our region’s special character? Get more info here.