A skyline view of the downtown area of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Every two and a half minutes, natural areas on the West Coast are lost due to human development, according to a new study.

An interactive map created by the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the Conservation Science Partners (CSP) shows which western states have taken the hardest hits and breaks down where development is doing the most damage. For example, in Sacramento County, California, developments took over 361,052 acres in 2011, 58.6 percent of all land. This map is the first of it’s kind in terms of analyzing human impacts on the West.

“This study provides the clearest picture yet of how quickly the West’s open spaces are disappearing and the extent to which wildlife habitats arebeing fragmented,” senior fellow and CAP director of public lands Matt Lee-Ashley said in a release. “The uncomfortable reality is that only a small fraction of western lands and waters are permanently protected for future generations, and those that are not are disappearing at a staggering rate.”

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The map above shows land developed by western US counties between 2001 and 2011.

(Conservation Science Partners, Inc. )

Between 2001 and 2011, almost 4,300 square miles of natural areas in the West were swallowed by development, a loss that amounts to an area larger than Yellowstone Natural Park, according to the study. Of the 11 states studied, Wyoming and Utah experienced the greatest change.

Wyoming saw a loss of 496 square miles, or 4.8 percent, of natural areas during that time period and Utah lost 376 square miles, or 4.6 percent.

Developments now cover 65,000 square miles, almost the size of 6 million superstore parking lots, according to the study.

Other factors are contributing to the demise of the West’s natural areas.

The burst of housing and commercial construction accounted for more than half of all open space lost from 2001 to 2011, the study reports. The footprint of cities and towns in the West increased nearly 17 percent during that time period, with the fastest growth taking place in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Utah.

Oil, gas, coal and other forms of energy and mineral development were the second-largest drivers of natural areas lost. Energy infrastructure’s footprint in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah grew by almost one-third due to oil and gas drilling taking off near towns such as Pinedale, Wyoming, and Rifle, Colorado.

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The breakdown of natural landscapes into smaller areas, known as fragmentation, has also become so severe and widespread that wildlife, including bears, are typically only about 3.5 miles from significant human development.

According to the release, the U.S. has committed to protecting 17 percent of all lands by 2020. To preserve what’s left in the West, the researchers suggest:

Private landowners and land trusts limiting their use of land and implementing smarter agricultural practices.Cities reducing their footprint by expanding opportunities for outdoor recreation and refining their plans for smart growth.States establishing permanent funding for protecting open space and wildlife habitats.Both state and national land management agencies rerouting energy development, logging, transportation and mining to areas with fewer conflicts.

“I think overall this is a reminder that natural area loss in the West is still a problem and that, notwithstanding the work of folks like Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir and others, there is a race to save some of the last places in the West,”Lee-Ashley told the Huffington Post.

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