Week 9: Pests, Waste, and Ecocities - Assignments environmental - Essay Example

The Fate of Agricultural Land in Fort Myers Florida Pressure on agricultural land increased long time back with the arrival of retirees and others desiring a home in Fort Myers Florida during the 1950s and 1960s. Population density increased greatly, as seen from the Landsat image, besides the banks of the Caloosahatchee River, forcing the city of Cape Coral intruding inland, on the northern side of the river. One can see clearly from the Landsat image that agricultural land area has been shrinking, as marked by light red, indicating agricultural land (Holmberg, 2012).
One can see ground meant for streets, roads, terraces, and parking lots visible in shining cream color. Most of the region on the mainland side of Matlacha Pass has transformed into urban land along with areas near to Little Pine Island, Pine Island, and the north side of Sanibel Island. Thus, urbanization has extended its inroads not only in the Fort Myers but other surrounding areas as well (Holmberg, 2012).
Overall increase in population 40 years back in Lee County, as stated by Carole Holmberg in “American Landscape,” reduced the agricultural land area because of urbanization. Forty years before, the region encircling the Nature Center was farmland. There was no development related to housing and businesses in the vicinity. Further, no interstate had been developed but the concurrent picture of Fort Myers indicates total negligence of the agriculture (Holmberg, 2012).
Nothing concrete has been planned to save the farmland in Fort Myers Florida. Land use for urban sprawl is increasing day-by-day, as is evident from the rush of people. In 2010, about 620,000 people visited the region. Industrialization of the area is on the increase, as it is becoming a hub of healthcare services. The greater Fort Myers area is leading in the provision of education, telecommunications, retail business, and routine services. Large areas of Fort Myer have got urbanized but still they are not part of the municipality (Holmberg, 2012).
Observing the Fort Myers (south) bank of the river, one can see new construction starting southward inside from the coast, adjacent to highways, joining Lee County with Naples, another center of urbanization in southwest Florida. There are a number of water bodies towards the east of the newly constructed regions, possibly connected to the mining work (Holmberg, 2012).
The agricultural land that could be seen in 1972 images of Landsat has got changed with the increasing urbanization to urban sprawl. Available census information reveals that farmland in Lee County has reduced more than 5,000 acres between 1974 and 2007, and it also includes the farmland in the eastern region, which was converted from natural land to agriculture land. Thus, loss of agricultural land in totality is greater. It indicates that more and more farmland area is being getting urbanized without any serious attempt by the regulating bodies to hamper the growth of urban sprawl at the cost of loosing agricultural land.
Reference
Holmberg, C. (2012, July 26). Watch the American Landscape Change as Seen From Space. Wired Science. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/07/landsat-landscapes/?pid=4428 Read More