North Central Research Station

Landscape Change Integrated Program

From Landscapes to Lots: Understanding and Managing Landscape Change

Across the U.S., 2,450 acres of open space are developed every day. It's happening in the Midwest too, of course, as landscapes become lots for subdivisions, vacation homes, and mini-malls. Fragmentation and development transform not only the life of the landscape, but also the lives of people who live, work, and visit an area.

As access to private land narrows, resource managers are under greater pressure to make sure public lands are "all things to all people," none of whom seem to agree. Meanwhile, local community officials are grappling for ways to "grow smart" while protecting their critical resource base and the character of their home region.

If there was ever a time for decision-support tools, it's now. Resource managers, business leaders, landowners, and community officials are making decisions that will ripple for years, yet they have little access to reliable information on the patterns, the process, or the implications of residential and commercial development.

Our Purpose

The purpose of the Landscape Change Integrated Program is to combine the efforts of scientists across the Station’s research work units to develop a better understanding of land use and land cover change and to develop knowledge and tools to help people make informed choices about how they use natural resources.

The program's research focus provides information relevant to the discussion of four main questions.

1. How is the landscape changing?
Our research has helped to identify the critical patterns and trends of changes in the Midwest region over recent decades. Detailed information on housing density and land cover and county data on forest characteristics, plants and animals, and human demographics have been organized in a Web-based atlas available to researchers, planners, and decisionmakers. Special studies on other critical patterns such as ozone concentrations help us understand trends and linkages within and beyond the region.

2. What drives landscape change?
Physical, biological, social, and economic factors combine in complex ways to draw people to locations within the region not only to visit, but also increasingly to build primary residences and second homes. This amenity migration has traditionally centered on the riparian areas within the region but is increasingly spreading to forest and agricultural areas of the urban and rural fringe.

3. What are the consequences of landscape change?
Forest parcelization and low-density development patterns are affecting the people and ecosystems of the region. At the urban fringe, fragmentation of forest cover is resulting in reductions in songbird populations and the decline in health of oak ecosystems. There also are concerns in more rural areas, such as economic impacts to the forest industry as increasing housing density results in fewer timber removals. Concerns about sprawl among metropolitan residents have increased across the Midwest region, with the perceived effects on environmental quality, farmland and open-space protection, traffic, and other problems varying in intensity from city to city.

4. What do we do about it?
Strategies for avoiding, minimizing, or ameliorating the negative effects of landscape change include policies aimed at protecting open space by regulating land use, providing incentives to landowners and developers, and educating homeowners. The effectiveness of many open-space protection strategies has not been tested, but approaches that integrate multiple tools and authorities have the highest potential for succeeding. Understanding the goals of planners and residents can go far to achieve long-term, effective, and equitable guidelines for landscape change.

More Information

Landscape Change Progress Report

USDA Forest Service - North Central Research Station
Last Modified: Friday, 16 January 2004