Some Environmental Effects of Rural Subdividing in An Arid Area: A Case Study in Arizona

Abstract

Graded roads which are commonly associated with rural land developments have created some rather serious effects on the environment of the arid and semi-arid regions of the United States. This type of development is particularly serious since it destroys the land's meager plant-cover and thereby exposes the dry soil to the wind. This exposed surface provides a potential source of accentuated dust pollution. Field observations show that rural subdividing may be a source of much of the dust which becomes airborne, causing air pollution beyond the natural quantity resident in the atmosphere. The problem could be alleviated somewhat by constructive land-use regulation which restricts the development of graded roads, thereby reducing the sources of accentuated dust pollution in unpopulated regions in rural areas of the arid zone. Field observations show that this practice of rural subdividing has been allowed to continue in spite of the undesirable effects upon the land.