Land Use and Land Cover Change and Loss of Open Space

The public sector in the United States has responded to growing concern about the social and environmental costs of sprawling development patterns by creating a wide range of policy instruments designed to manage urban growth and protect open space. At the Northern Research Station, our scientists work to measure the demographics of land use change and understand what such changes mean to urban, suburban, and rural residents. Our scientists work with local and regional governments to develop responses to these changes and to inform movements for preservation of open space.

Selected Research Studies

Landscape and demographic change
Urban areas across the nation have tripled in extent since 1950, and they show no signs of slowing. As cities expand across the landscape, natural resource managers and policymakers need to be able to anticipate and respond to the widespread changes and increasing pressures affecting open space. But while burgeoning developments threaten some critical natural areas, they also provide exciting new opportunities for creativity and innovation in guiding growth and making existing urban environments more livable.

Songbird nesting success and habitat use: An urban-rural comparison
Because of their proximity to a large number of people, urban habitats provide areas where many people can enjoy birds. However, these habitats may not be as suitable for some songbirds as habitats in less developed settings.

Public policies and urban growth
Decision-makers and planners have responded to the undesirable impacts of urban growth by developing a wide range of policy tools and growth-management programs that have been implemented at the local, regional, state and, to a limited extent, national levels. Understanding these policies and programs, including their strengths and weaknesses, is critical to designing effective ways to address the social and environmental costs of sprawl.

Protecting metropolitan open space
Urban planners acquire open space to protect natural areas and provide public access to recreation opportunities. Because of limited budgets and dynamic land markets, acquisitions take place sequentially depending on available funds and sites. To address these planning features, we formulated a two-period site selection model with two objectives: maximize the expected number of species represented in protected sites and maximize the expected number of people with access to protected sites.