Native animals and plants literally are losing ground, dying out as their wild homes are destroyed or fragmented by development. The problem is so large and so overshadowing that it may as well be the only problem. An average of 45,400 acres, an area slightly larger than the city of Richmond, was developed each year in Virginia from 1982 to 1992. Development probably accelerated during the hot economy of the 1990s, but figures aren't in yet. Today, about 800 animals and 605 plants are rare or endangered in Virginia.
Habitat loss is the top threat to most.
Animals in danger of disappearing from Virginia include the Bachman's sparrow, the red-cockaded woodpecker, the barking tree frog and the tiger salamander. Many common animals are dwindling in numbers, too, according to a survey of some of Virginia's top biologists. Declining songbirds include the tuneful whippoorwill and wood thrush, the colorful scarlet tanager and the ovenbird, which builds a nest resembling a tiny oven on the ground. When roads, houses and parking lots break up forests into patches, populations of small animals become isolated. These are mammals such as native mice and voles, amphibians such as frogs and salamanders, and reptiles such as turtles and snakes.