Abstract
Changes in landscape structure caused by the introduction of the U.S. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) were examined. Using imagery-derived land cover maps for the pre- and post-CRP enrollment periods, we identified regions of cropland that had been converted to CRP in a six-county area in southwestern Kansas. The major impact of CRP in the study area has been the reversal of an overall trend of grassland fragmentation. The introduction of CRP has substantially modified the spatial structure of the southwest Kansas landscape, generally with important positive implications for wildlife habitat, by changing the count, size, shape, interior areas, and connectivity of grassland patches. The authors also concluded that CRP enrollments had a strong spatial association with the distribution of points of water diversion for irrigation.
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