U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy - Joint Ocean Commission Initiative

almost doubled in population over the past thirtyyears. Much of this growth occurred in Florida.• The Great Lakes region saw a population declinein the coastal zone counties from 1970–2000,primarily due to trends in the 1970s. This wasdue in large part to population declines in citiessuch as Detroit and Cleveland.• Population growth trends differed in each regionacross the three decades, but the 1990s saw thegreatest absolute amount of growth in all regions.• Growth accelerated across the decades in theAtlantic region and the Great Lakes, recoveredfrom a population loss in the 1970s to a gain inthe 1990s. Growth rates were faster in the 1980sin the Pacific. The Gulf of Mexico saw the fastestgrowth in coastal zone counties in all threedecades.• The fastest growth in the near shore region overthe past decade was in the Gulf of Mexico, theslowest in the Great Lakes.Trends in the large regions examined here illustratesome of the major variations in populationgrowth across the country. Important additional variationsexist within each of the regions between andwithin states. One of the most important of thesevariations is the different rates of growth in urbanand rural areas (Table C.4). 7Over the past thirty years, the population growthrate in rural areas substantially exceeds that of urbanareas. Rural coastal zone counties grew by more than57% from 1970 to 2000, compared with 38% growthin urban coastal zone counties. Population growthFigure C.2 Population Growth 1970–2000100%80%60%has been most rapid in those urban region countieswhich are furthest from the central city and in thoserural counties furthest from the city with at least onelarge community. 8Trends in Housing GrowthThe potential for population growth’s impact oncoastal and ocean resources extends beyond thesheer number of people who reside in coastal areas.That potential is also driven by the growth in thenumber of housing units in a region, which is a principalsource of demand for land that may otherwisebe used for wildlife habitat, wetlands, etc. Much ofthe growth in America takes place in a pattern whichhas come to be called “sprawl”, which involvesextensive spreading out of housing and economicactivity across the landscape. Coastal areas are verymuch characterized by sprawling patterns of growth.(Beach, D. 2003)Figure C.3 shows the comparative growth rates ofhousing and population in coastal watershed andcoastal zone counties from 1970–2000. Over thewhole period, housing growth has substantiallyexceeded population growth, although the differencesin rates diminished by the 1990s. The trends of fasterhousing growth than population growth is particularlystrong in the Great Lakes region, which saw a slightdecline (0.4%) in the population in Coastal Zonecounties of over the three decades, but an increase inhousing in the same counties of nearly 25%.Rural coastal zone counties also grew substantiallyfaster in housing than urban coastal zone coun-Figure C.3 Population and Housing Growth1970–2000 for Coastal Regions and theUnited States25%20%40%20%0%-20%U.S.Atlantic■ Coastal Watershed CountiesSource: U.S. CensusGulf ofMexicoPacificGreatLakes■ Coastal Zone Counties15%10%5%0%Population■ United States■ Coastal Watersheds CountiesSource: U.S. CensusHousing1970–2000 (AverageGrowth per Decade)Population1990–2000Housing■ Coastal Zone Counties■ Near Shore (Not available1970–2000)A PPENDIX C: LIVING N EAR… AND M AKING A L IVING F ROM…THE N ATION’ S C OASTS AND O CEANS C 7