 Maps
Washington Region in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
The Washington, D.C.,
metropolitan region is the largest, most urbanized land area
in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The region is home to approximately
4.5 million residents and 2.8 million jobs. The region's economy
ranks 4th in the country, behind New York, Los Angeles, and
Chicago. It is the 6th most populous and ranks 5th in numbers
of jobs. As of 2000, developed land covered approximately 700,000
to 860,000 acres or 24-29 percent of the metropolitan region
(1), while agricultural and forest land accounted for 876,000
and 1.3 million acres, respectively. In the outlying rural counties
surrounding the Washington metropolitan region and shown in
the Atlas (King George, Spotsylvania, Fredericksburg, Fauquier,
and Clarke, in Virginia; Jefferson County, West Virginia; Carroll
and St. Mary's in Maryland), developed land amounted to between
121,000 - 159,000 acres (8-10 percent); agricultural, over 650,000
acres; forests, 770,000 acres.
Between 1970 and 1990 the Washington region's population
grew by over 35 percent. In this same period, however, the
rate at which land was converted to urban uses exceeded population
growth by two-and-one-half times.(2) From 1990 to 2000, the
region's population grew by another 16.3 percent. By 2025,
the population is projected to increase another 1.44 million,
about 25 percent.(3) This growth, while potentially positive
for central jurisdictions such as the District of Columbia
(which declined in population until 2000), threatens to consume
an increasing amount of important resource land throughout
the region and at its perimeter. If the current sprawling
patterns of urbanization continue into the future, the region
will not only lose natural resource lands, but existing problems
of poor air and water quality along with traffic congestion
will be compounded.
View entire Washington
Region in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed map
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1 Data sources: Mid-Atlantic Earth
Science Applications Center (RESAC), the University of Maryland
at College Park, and Maryland Department of Planning. The
Washington, D.C., metropolitan region is defined as the Metropolitan
Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) member jurisdictions
and two Baltimore Metropolitan Council jurisdictions. These
jurisdictions are the following: District of Columbia, Arlington
County, City of Alexandria, Montgomery County, City of Rockville,
Prince George's County, Fairfax County, City of Fairfax, City
of Falls Church, Loudoun County, Prince William County, Manassas,
Manassas Park, Calvert County, Charles County, Frederick County,
Stafford County, Anne Arundel County, Howard County. The outer
jurisdictions depicted in this Atlas are: Fauquier County,
Clarke County, King George County, Spotsylvania County, Fredericksburg,
Jefferson County, Carroll County, St. Mary's County.
2 A Region Divided, Brookings Institution Center on Urban
and Metropolitan Policy, 1999
3 MWCOG Round 6.2 Cooperative Forecasts
Washington
Region in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
| Imperviousness |
Natural Resource & Agricultural
Lands
Protected Lands | Protected
Greenspace Inside the Capital Beltway
Urbanization
Future Growth
Model
|
