Between 1982 and 2001, more than 34 million acres of open space were lost to development, according to the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. This is a rate of approximately 250 acres per hour of open space lost -- forests, rangeland, pasture land, crop land and other nonfederal undeveloped land. To get a feeling for what this means, one of our recent Central Region rides was held on a 1,660-acre private ranch. At this rate of development, an area the size of this ranch would be lost to development in a little more than six hours.

Our population is growing significantly. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2000 the U.S. population was 282 million. In 2008, it's already 304 million. Forty years from now it's expected to be 420 million. Much of that population growth is expected to be in or near large cities. As members of a group that rides mostly in very rural areas, we might think that this isn't going to affect us or the areas where we hold our rides.

But it certainly will. Today we have already lost the ranch and the ride above to the development of natural gas resources which will go to support the energy needs of the growing urban population. The ranch where our ride over the Memorial Day weekend was held is being sold for development of "Hill Country homes."

Resources from the rural areas where we ride will be needed to support future population growth. Parks we use for our rides will see significant increase in use by hikers, bikers, off-trail vehicle users and campers. Equestrians will be a small part of the total use of the parks in coming years.

It's likely that funds to support usage of state and government lands will be decreasing compared to the population growth as well. This year alone, California was planning to close 43 parks to public use because of a lack of funds.

Many of us will live near urban areas. We need trails near where we live to condition for participation in our sport.

What will AERC become during this period of population growth? Can we expect the same availability of trails and facilities? Will we be able to share the trails with the other users? What can we do to continue having trails to ride and enable AERC to meet these challenges?

Our Trails Committee is tasked with addressing some of these issues for AERC. Our Special Sanctioning Committee will be asked to look at changes in the way some of our rides are held that may work better in or near urban environments. Our Competitions Committee needs to look at whether there can be changes in how we compete that will work better with state and national land management agencies.

Among the key issues are:

-- building partnerships with other organizations -- equestrian, hiking, and biking, to name a few

-- building strong relationships with state and national land management organizations

-- lobbying Congress through organizations like the American Horse Council.

Trail grants, volunteer trail work by members, and development of sustainable trail systems, using the knowledge from our Trail Master courses, are all things to which AERC can contribute.

Many AERC members simply want to ride -- some to enjoy the company of their horse and friends, some to compete for awards, or to simply see places that they would never visit without their horse and AERC rides. But AERC needs to address these significant challenges so that most of us can "just ride." You are needed to support these efforts.

AERC needs to be receptive to innovation and look to what will be happening as America's population grows and becomes more urban. Thirty years from now, AERC may not be able to be the same organization it is now due to loss of trails, population growth, and the changing use of the places we hold rides.

But I'd like to believe AERC will still be there with many of the same ideals we have today. We need to consider how to achieve this and work hard to ensure it happens.