A new study suggests that southwest North Carolina has lost more than 100 acres daily for the past 30 years to urban development.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte used satellite imaging to study 24 counties - including McDowell County - between the Blue Ridge Mountains and Rockingham. They found that between 1976 and 2006, development increased by 850 percent. And it isn't slowing down.

The Charlotte Observer reported Wednesday that Mecklenburg County is on pace to see all of its available land developed within 25 years.

The maps developed by UNC Charlotte (which can be viewed at http://www.gis.uncc.edu/ospc/) show how development in McDowell has progressed.

Of the counties studied, McDowell has among the most protected open spaces.

The maps do show marked growth in development between 1976 when .05 percent of the land was developed and 2006 when 6.5 percent of the land was developed.

In 1996, McDowell was losing two acres a day to development. That increased to three acres a day in 2006.

That was expected to slow to one or two acres a day through 2030, according to the study.

The study was funded by the Open Space Protection Collaborative, a group of six regional land-preservation organizations.

Group officials are using the study to raise awareness in areas where their efforts to save open space could have the largest effect.