PARENT SESSION
Symposium #6: Land use change in rural America: Rates, drivers, and consequences.
Organized by: A Hansen and D Brown
Monday, August 5. 1:00 PM to 3:45 PM. Turquoise Ballroom, TCC.
Rural land use trends in the U.S., 1950-2000.
Brown, Daniel*,1, Johnson, Kenneth2, Loveland, Thomas3, Theobald, David4, 1 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI2 Loyola University - Chicago, Chicago, IL3 USGS EROS Data Center, Sioux Falls, SD4 Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
ABSTRACT- In order to understand the magnitude, direction, and geographic distribution of land use changes, and their impacts on ecosystems, we evaluated land use trends in U.S. counties during the latter half of the 20th century. Our paper synthesizes the dominant spatial and temporal trends in population and agricultural, forest, and urbanized land uses, using a variety of data sources and an ecoregion classification as a frame of reference. Population redistribution trends in the later half of the 20th century reflect selective deconcentration of the population, with some rural areas receiving a significant influx of population whereas other regions continue to lose population. Urbanized land area follows these general trends, but were also affected by increases land area per capita. Low-density, exurban development beyond the urban fringe occupied nearly 10 times the area of urbanized land in 2000. Area of land under cultivation has been affected by dramatic increases in productivity, increasing globalization and mechanization of agriculture. Agricultural land use increased in area throughout the corn belt and parts of the west, but decreased east of the Mississippi River. We use a regional case study of the Mid-Atlantic region to place these broader patterns in sharper focus. Land cover changes occurred most rapidly in the forested plains ecoregions and were related to changes in the timber industry. Piedmont ecoregions exhibited substantial urbanization. Appalachian ecoregions show the slowest rates of land cover change.
KEY WORDS: land use change, landscape ecology, US Census, remote sensing