The Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) is a nationally standardized database of land cover and land change information, developed using remotely sensed imagery, for the coastal regions of the U.S. C-CAP products inventory coastal intertidal areas, wetlands, and adjacent uplands with the goal of monitoring these habitats by updating the land cover maps every five years.
The development of standardized, regional land cover information enables managers to coordinate the planning of shared resources, facilitating an ecosystem approach to environmental issues that transcends local and state regulatory boundaries. C-CAP has recently released two time periods of mapping for all of the Conterminous United States (CONUS), and is now working to update these products. The goal is to have this 2005/06 update complete by 2010, so that we can then start on the next update cycle.
The time series seen here depicts changes in Mt. Pleasant (a suburb of Charleston), South Carolina. From 1972 to 2000, Mt. Pleasant saw a 250 percent increase in development and a 160 percent increase in grassland. Most of this development was in areas were forests formerly stood. In many cases development now abuts the marsh edge, leaving little buffer around these natural features.
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