To the editor:

Mr. Marsh cites a claim by the American Farmland Trust that the United States is losing 400,000 acres of open land to developmental sprawl each hour. Unless my calculator and fingers and toes have failed me, I would suggest that this figure needs some modification. Given that a a square mile of land contains 640 acres, the quoted rate of loss would mean that 625 square miles of land were being lost hourly, 15,000 square miles daily and 5,375,000 square miles annually. Since the total land area of the United States is 3,717,813 square miles, either the quoted figure is incorrect, or we lost the battle to contain developmental sprawl some time ago.

I quite agree with Mr. Marsh’s main point, but I believe that the rate at which open land is being lost for the purposes of agriculture, erosion control, wildlife, windbreaks, air quality, native plants, water purity and recreation should be corrected.

Lynn H. Nelson,

Lawrence