To study the effects of growth management efforts on urban fringe areas in Washington State’s Puget Sound region, USA, this study documents and quantifies transformation in land cover and land-use from 1974 to 1998 for a 47km squared study area east of Seattle. Research showed that housing density has increased within current urban growth boundaries, but that sprawling low-density housing in rural and wildland areas still constitute a large percent of total land developed within the study area. These results suggest that even though current growth management efforts prioritize increasing housing density within the urban growth boundaries, policies to reduce the density of settlement outside urban centers may have unintended environmental consequences.Keywords: edge, forest conversion, growth management policy, habitat fragmentation, landscape patterns, low-density housing, sprawl, urban growth boundaries