Status and Trends of Land Change in Selected U.S. Ecoregions - 2000 to 2011

Abstract

U.S. Geological Survey scientists developed a dataset of 2006 and 2011 land-use and land-cover (<small>LULC</small>) information for selected 100-km2 sample blocks within 29 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<small>EPA</small>) Level III ecoregions across the conterminous United States. The data can be used with the previously published Land Cover Trends Dataset: 1973 to 2000 to assess landuse/land-cover change across a 37-year study period. Results from analysis of these data include ecoregion-based statistical estimates of the amount of <small>LULC</small> change per time period, ranking of the most common types of conversions, rates of change, and percent composition. Overall estimated amount of change per ecoregion from 2001 to 2011 ranged from a low of 370 km2 in the Northern Basin and Range Ecoregion to a high of 78,782 km2 in the Southeastern Plains Ecoregion. The Southeastern Plains continues to encompass one of the most intense forest harvesting and regrowth regions in the country, with 16.6 percent of the ecoregion changing between 2001 and 2011. These <small>LULC</small> change statistics provide a new, valuable resource that complements other reference data and field-verified <small>LULC</small> data. Researchers can use this resource to independently validate other land change products or to conduct regional land change assessments.