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LUHNA Project History
In late 1994, the National Biological Service (NBS), now the
Biological Resources Division (BRD) of the U. S. Geological
Survey, initiated a program to develop an historical atlas
of North American landscapes. Initial efforts included a
workshop and a series of pilot projects funded jointly by
USGS and NASA's Earth Sciences Enterprise. These efforts
integrated perspectives in geography, ecology, environmental
history, sociology, statistics, and cartography.
The first phase of this new program, LUHNA, the Land Use
History of North America project, focused on ten projects
with historical vegetation and land cover patterns, as well
as the anthropogenic factors driving those changes. The
projects present spatial data, present map-based data on
landcover and land use, and integrate historical information
drawn from diverse sources, including paleoecological
records, historical narratives, early land surveys, aerial
photography, and satellite imagery. Articles derived from
the pilot projects have been peer reviewed and are served to
the public on this web site. The site highlights three
papers that provide an introduction to continent-wide
trends, and six detailing trends in landcover and land use
for selected regions around the continent.
Ongoing efforts to compile a comprehensive LUHNA project for
the Colorado Plateau (including parts of Arizona, Utah,
Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico) are currently underway,
and USGS, NASA, and many other LUHNA partners are working to
expand the program to new sites. Together, these efforts
will provide the historical perspective on land and natural
resources that will allow managers, landowners, and the
public to assess current trends and make more informed
decisions about key environmental issues.
Additional Information
LUHNA Concept Paper
Initial LUHNA Workshop, August 13-14 1995
Land Use as an Ecological Variable, by S. T. A. Pickett
A Whiff of the Past, by S. T. A. Pickett
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Last Updated: Tuesday, 15-Aug-2000 08:26:50 MDT
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