The Ramblings of a Title Man

Land use and conservation

Researchers Kathryn M. Flinn and Zachary R. Hughes from Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio, recently published a study in the Journal, Urban Ecosystems. Their study, titled, “How a city shapes its forests: Land use change and forest distribution around Cleveland, Ohio over 220 years,” identified forest loss over hundreds of years and advocated for restoration and conservation to preserve and restore forested land.

Their study (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-023-01459-0) identified a 200-year cycle in land use that western societies have experienced. Prior to the arrival of European settlers, the county of Cuyahoga, in Ohio (where Cleveland is the county seat), had as much as 97% forests. Native inhabitants did clear some forests for agriculture, but that occurred along river wetlands where water was plentiful. According to the study, starting in 1796 and reaching its zenith in 1900, deforestation for agriculture occurred in many parts of the United States including Cuyahoga County.?After 1900, use of land for agriculture decreased. Some land was re-forested and these areas are called post-agriculture forests. Today, Cuyahoga County has about 21% forests. Forest loss in the last 20 years has been primarily from development.?

The study is an interesting picture of how land use has changed, as our society moved from an agriculture-based economy to a service and goods-based society. We use land differently today than 50, 100 or 200 years ago. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in the United States in the 19th Century, as many as 91% of the population worked in agriculture.?Today that number is about 3%.?

The change in land use over the past 220 years has also heralded the rise of human-caused climate change. Think of how much carbon could be pulled out of the environment if we still had 97% forest coverage. Of course, with our country’s population density, that is not possible, but conservation and re-forestation of land could be an area that lessens the impact of climate change.

Why is this important to the land title industry? Every title insurance policy issued includes this enumerated covered risk:

5. A violation or enforcement of a law, ordinance, permit, or governmental regulation (including those relating to building and zoning), but only to the extent of the violation or enforcement described by the enforcing governmental authority in an Enforcement Notice that identifies a restriction, regulation, or prohibition relating to:

a.????????the occupancy, use, or enjoyment of the Land;

b.????????the character, dimensions, or location of an improvement on the Land;

c.????????the subdivision of the Land; or

d.????????environmental remediation or protection on the Land. [Emphasis added to item d.]

Could there be a point in the not-so-distant future where governments start to place restrictions on land use to protect the environment and promote re-forestation? If that does become more prevalent in the United States, the title industry as a whole will have to identify best practices to identify land protection laws and properly describe them to prospective buyers.?

"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness." – John Muir, 1838-1914, co-founder of the Sierra Club, naturalist and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States.

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Sources: Urban Ecosystems?https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-023-01459-0