by James R. Dunn

About the author: James R. Dunn is the retired founder and president of Dunn Corporation, an environmental consulting firm. He is co-author of Conservative Environmentalism.

Many environmentalists worry that suburban growth is reducing the diversity of wildlife. The Sierra Club’s Carl Pope recently wrote that urban sprawl “fragments landscapes—and fragmented landscapes are the biggest threat to America’s wildlife heritage.”

This claim may be true in California, but it is not supported in New York State. I live on abandoned farmland in a suburban area outside Albany that looks like a wildlife refuge.

When our agricultural lands are abandoned because they are no longer competitive, they usually reforest naturally. Subsequently, when these lands near cities become residential areas, people typically plant trees and shrubs, often...