IV-159 



The difference in estuarine land use development between these two 

 regions probably results from the difference in rainfall. The low 

 rainfall in the Pacific Southwest required the intensive use for 

 farming of all land amenable to Irrigation, of which a major part 

 was that near the mouths of the major rivers. The plentiful rain- 

 fall in the Middle Atlantic region, however, permitted the use of 

 much land away from the estuarine zone for farming, so the intensive 

 estuarine land use pattern of the Pacific Southwest did not develop. 



In those regions lying between Cape Hatteras and Canada, as well as 

 in the Pacific Southwest, over 90 percent of the population lives in 

 urban areas; over much of the Atlantic estuarine zone stretches the 

 great Northeastern megalopolis with population densities averaging 

 over 1,000 persons per square mile. The remainder of the estuarine 

 zone of the United States exhibits a pattern of major centers of 

 population clustered around natural harbors and separated by 

 stretches of coastline which are either empty and inaccessible or 

 beginning to be sprinkled with private residences and resort com- 

 munities in the vicinities of population centers. 



Agriculture in the estuarine zone itself tends to follow the crop 

 patterns typical of neighboring inland areas, although there are 

 some important crops which require special conditions of humidity or 

 soil dampness most easily found in the estuarine zone, if not 

 directly associated with estuarine waters themselves. Cranberries 



