CFE agenda 091117 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

interpret land cover change for four separate time periods (ending in 1980, 1986, 1992, and 2000) as well as across the entire study period. Across the eastern U.S., 12.5% of land area was convert- ed from one land cover category to another at least once during the study period (Loveland and Acev- edo 2010). However this figure masks high amounts of geographic variability across the landscape. The southeastern ecoregions experienced greater than average land change (18.9 %) but with enormous heterogeneity across regions. For example, overall land use change in the ecoregions occurring in North Carolina ranged from 2% in the Blue Ridge Moun- tains to 20% in the Southeastern Plains (Figure 4 -1). Across the region, land cover change during this time period was dominated by changes in forest. In the Southeastern Plains, Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain, and Piedmont, the primary land cover transitions were from forest to mechanically disturbed and from mechanically disturbed back to forest (Ruch 2008, Napton 2008, Sohl 2010), which are consistent with large -scale planting and cutting rotations asso- ciated with the timber industry. In 1999, planted pine stands occupied 15% of the South's commercial forest land, up from 1% of commercial forest land in 1952, with the remainder consisting of natural stands of pine, hardwood, and mixed forest (Conner and Hartsell 2002). This change is illustrated in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain, where only 59.5% of forest persisted throughout the study period, one of Photo: C.j. Peters the lowest percentages of all eastern ecoregions (Ruch 2008). Changes in forest cover for each ecoregion are provided in Table 4 -1. In the Blue Ridge Mountains, where 98% of land cover remained stable across the study period, the leading land cover conversion was forest to developed use (Taylor and Kurtz 2008). Increasing population pressures across the region have corresponded to increases in developed areas (Table 4 -2). For example, in the Piedmont and Southeastern Plains, approxi- mately 2.7 million acres were converted from forest and agricultural land to developed uses (Ruch 2008, Napton 2008). In the Piedmont Ecoregion, 70% of the land that was converted to developed uses was forested. Unlike land cover transitions associated with planting and cutting rotations, these developed areas rarely revert to non - developed cover types. Table 4 -1. Changes in forest cover between 1973 and 2000 for the four ecoregions (EPA Level III) occurring in North Carolina (Data: USGS National Land Cover Trends Project). Percentage of total area is indicated in parentheses. :o11 1K'11011'11 Acirefs Q 197 3" j Acres (2000) 1, rIei1 c ein t age clmllnge Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain 7,861,400 (35.5 %) 7,112,200 (32.1 %) -9.5% Southeastern Plains 44,071,700 (53.1 %) 43,053,400 (51.8 %) -7.3% Piedmont 24,469,400 (59.8 %) 22,524,100 (55.1 %) -7.9% Blue Ridge Mountains 9,394,200 (79.5 %) 9,245,900 (78.3 %) -1.6%