Landscape Of Study Area Research Articles

Impacts of Wildlife Artificial Water Provisioning in an African Savannah Ecosystem: A Spatiotemporal Analysis

The use of artificial water points for wildlife in African savannah ecosystems has been widely criticised for affecting the distribution of wildlife and initiating changes in the heterogeneity of natural landscapes. We examined the spatiotemporal variations in the landscape before and after the installation of an artificial water point by integrating the analysis of vegetation and soil spectral response patterns with a supervised learning random forest model between 2002 and 2022 in Chobe Enclave, Northern Botswana. Our results revealed that the study area is characterised by animal species such as Equus quagga, Aepyceros melampus, and Loxodonta africana. The findings also showed that the main vegetation species in the study area landscape include Combretum elaeagnoides, Vachellia luederitzii, and Combretum hereroense. The artificial water point induced disturbances on a drought-vulnerable landscape which affected vegetation heterogeneity by degrading the historically dominant vegetation cover types such as Colophospermum mopane, Dichrostachys cinerea, and Cynodon dactylon. The immediate years following the artificial water point installation demonstrated the highest spectral response patterns by vegetation and soil features attributed to intense landscape disturbances due to abrupt high-density aggregation of wildlife around the water point. Landscapes were strongly homogenised in later years (2022), as shown by overly overlapping spectral patterns owing to an increase in dead plant-based material and senescent foliage due to vegetation toppling and trampling. The landscape disturbances disproportionately affected mopane-dominated woodlands compared to other vegetation species as indicated by statistically significant land cover change obtained from a random forest classification. The woodlands declined significantly (p < 0.05) within 0–0.5 km, 0.5–1 km, 1–5 km, and 5–10 km distances after the installation of the water point. The results of this study indicate that continuous nonstrategic and uninformed use of artificial water points for wildlife will trigger ecological alterations in savannah ecosystems.

Morphological of the Euphrates River between Al-Qaim and Hit City Using Modern Technology

The study aims to illustrate the River characteristics, river morphology and river processes in the study area Landscape. The river and morphological variables used in the study were derived from the satellite imageries available, digital elevation models, and relevant maps. River morphology is used to describe the shapes of river channels and how they change in shape and direction over time. River channel morphology is an indicator of a number of environmental processes and conditions. The river channel is the product of many geographical and geomorphological components that are determined by many factors, which are independent variables of the landscape (Geology, Climate, And Man) and reflect their influence in shaping the variables dependent on the landscape and the channel (sediment supply, stream discharge, and vegetation). Based on the aforementioned variables, the landscapes of the Euphrates River profile between the cities of Al-Qaim and Hit were chosen, which affect the formation and development of the channel. Where it leads to creating the shape of the planform and the active river area. The topography of the study area is characterized as a plateau crossed by the Euphrates River. It was affected by tectonic activity and this was reflected in the shape planform and geomorphic characteristics.The length of the river distance for the studied profile is 348 km, and it was divided into four reaches.It appeared that the index of this distance is characterized by sinuosity, as it reached 1.4, now the meanders are present in the second and fourth reach, while braiding prevailed in the first reach. The emergence of human settlements and increased until the present time, represented by the construction of a group of dams on its basin. It led to the occurrence of a series of hydrological and geomorphological changes, which necessitates the restoration of this basin and finding ways to ensure the stability and well-being of the inhabitants of its basin.

Construction of Nature Reserves’ Ecological Security Pattern Based on Landscape Ecological Risk Assessment: A Case Study of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China

Human activities are constantly affecting ecological space, and the construction of ecological security patterns to ensure ecological security has become an issue that must be considered for sustainable development. At present, little attention has been paid to the ecological security of cities with a high number of nature reserves. In this study, we took Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in China, which has many nature reserves, as the research object to construct an ecological security pattern with nature reserves as ecological sources. Firstly, Fragstats 4.2 and ArcGIS 10.4 were used to obtain the ecological risk evaluation results of the study area landscape. Secondly, a “nature–society–landscape” resistance factor system and an ecological resistance surface were constructed using a minimum resistance model. Finally, the ecological safety zone of the nature reserve was divided, and the ecological safety pattern of the nature reserve was established. (1) The ecological risk of the study area shows a spatial distribution pattern of “low in the northwest and high in the southeast”, with low and moderate-low ecological risk dominating; (2) The study area has formed an ecological security pattern consisting of 9 ecological sources, 35 ecological nodes, 8 ecological corridors with a total length of 702.96 km and 4 ecological safety zones; (3) The ecological security pattern of nature reserves in the study area was divided into four categories: low, medium, high and moderate-high ecological safety zones, accounting for 20.62%, 27.34%, 24.48% and 27.55%, respectively. This study provides a new framework for the construction of urban ecological safety patterns and offers scientific guidance for the conservation and management of nature reserves and urban ecology.

Estimating Forest Productivity Using Site Characteristics, Multipoint Measures, and a Nonparametric Approach

Abstract Understanding the productivity of forestland is essential in sustainable management of forest ecosystems. The most common measure of site productivity is breast height–age site index (BHASI). BHASI has limitations as a productivity measure and can compound error in predictive models. We explored the accuracy of productivity predictions using an alternative productivity measure (10-meter site index) and a nonparametric approach. An orthogonal sampling design ensured samples were collected across the range of conditions known to influence Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) height-growth rates. Using climate, soil, and topographic data along with 10-meter site index measurements, we compared five possible models to estimate forest productivity. Model parameters, performance, and predictions were compared. Twelve validation sites were used to test the accuracy of model predictions. Model performance was significantly improved when smoothing span values were optimized and elevation was added as a predictor. A four-predictor nonparametric model with a bias-corrected Akaike information criterion–optimized smoothing span value produced the most accurate results and was used to produce forest productivity maps for the study area. The low resolution of currently available climatic data and the complex nature of the study area landscape necessitate a topographic variable for accurate productivity predictions. Study Implications Defining and understanding forest productivity is of interest to a wide variety of natural resource professionals including ecologists, climate change experts, forest biometricians, and forest managers. A new method of defining forest productivity using multipoint height-age pairs at 10 and 20 meters and calculated growth rates combined with an appropriate landscape-scale stratification and a nonparametric approach provides accurate productivity estimates. This method is more widely applicable and more precise for specific locations than previous productivity estimation methods. Better productivity and tree growth information will provide more accurate estimates of future forest condition and structure.

Is Rubber Monoculture Banishing Agrobiodiversity and Happiness? Evidences from Shifting Cultivation Landscape of Tripura, Northeast India

Natural environmental settings, in general, are considered by humans as the ideal ambience which makes them happy and reinvigorated especially within their mental realm. If this is the case, can we assume that all green spaces are synonymous to augmenting happiness? Biodiversity is expressed in terms of a system having number and abundance of different species. For resilience of various ecosystem services like food production, climate regulation, and pest management to take place, prevalence of such biodiversity is essential which can substantially contribute to sustained human well-being. In this study, we assessed the status of agrobiodiversity and subjective well-being of an indigenous community amidst the transition from shifting cultivation (SC) to monoculture of natural rubber (NR). Sampling the respondents from 18 villages of Dhalai, Tripura, a remotely located district in northeast India and bordered by Bangladesh, we used mixed methods research for in depth investigation. Findings revealed that in the SC landscape of study area, the cultivated crop species and livestock breeds were being largely replaced by encroachment from rubber plantation. We documented only 19 crop species on such a landscape which is otherwise known for its vast agrobiodiversity in the tropics. This kind of transition from SC to NR which is usually supported by the government development interventions, has severely affected the ecosystem services of such landscapes and banishing happiness from the indigenous communities, as perceived by them. Hence stabilization of rich agrobiodiversity and simultaneously ensuring the peoples’ well-being is the only potential alternative for development in the region.

Burn probability simulation and subsequent wildland fire activity in Alberta, Canada – Implications for risk assessment and strategic planning

Burn probability maps produced by Monte Carlo methods involve repeated simulations of fire ignition and spread across a study area landscape to identify locations that burn more frequently than others. These maps have achieved broad acceptance for research investigations and strategic fire management planning. In this study, we investigated correspondence between burn probability heat maps and burned areas observed in subsequent years for five study areas in Alberta, Canada. Observations of burned areas included 138 fires that collectively burned 543049 ha. Distributions of burn probability values within burned areas were not heavily skewed towards the high-end of the range; however, median burn probability was significantly lower in unburned areas compared with burned areas for three of five study areas. Accuracy of burn probability maps was dependent on map design choices and subjective performance thresholds. When continuous burn probability values were mapped with a stretched symbology, most observed burned areas (>70%) were located in areas within the lower-half of the burn probability range where fires were considered the least likely. In contrast, when burn probabilities were mapped and evaluated with a 50th percentile performance threshold, most observed burned areas (75–80%) occurred in half of the study area where burn probability values exceeded the median. Map accuracy declined linearly as this performance threshold was increased from 50th to 90th percentile. Choice of classification method for mapping burn probabilities altered the appearance of the map and corresponding map accuracy. Compared with Jenks natural breaks, equal intervals, or defined intervals, a quantile classification was the only method that resulted in burned areas falling preferentially in locations mapped in the highest burn probability classes.

СОСТОЯНИЕ ЗАЩИТНЫХ ЛЕСНЫХ НАСАЖДЕНИЙ В РАЗНЫХ ПОЧВЕННЫХ УСЛОВИЯХ ЗАКАМЬЯ

The results of the study of protective forest plantations state in the Eastern Kama region of the Republic of Tatarstan are presented. The assessment of the study area landscape, the soil conditions for the formation of protective forests is given. Under the canopy of forest phytocoenoses, brown-brown forest, gray forest soils and rendzins are identified. Pine, spruce, birch, and poplar protective plantations, pure and mixed in composition, were studied. On the trial plots the taxation indicators of stands are determined. The peculiarities of the distribution of trees along the thickness steps and categories of the state are revealed. In pine biogeocenoses there are obviously more trees without signs of weakening: the content of healthy trees is 70.5-87.4%. Less stable are pine plantations created on stony soils of a steep slope. A higher proportion of healthy trees are allocated pine phytocenoses formed on loamy brown soils. Protective plantations of Almetyevsky municipal district, created from European spruce on soils with a developed profile, are distinguished by a high proportion of trees without signs of weakening. In the composition of deciduous plantations, a high percentage of trees without signs of weakening are inherent in the mulberry, which grows on brown-brown forest heavy loamy soil. There are no strongly weakened and drying trees. Birch grouse, formed on rendzine leached heavy loam on stony calcareous rocks, is less stable: the proportion of weakened trees increases to 20.1%.

Landscape preference of different stakeholders in highly intensive farming agricultural landscape.

Intensive agriculture is the way for production and management in modern agriculture, which increases the yield per unit area of farmland, brings a series of environmental and ecological problems, and limits the sustainability of agriculture. Landscape preference focuses on different stakeholders' preferences for landscape, reflects the influences of human's subjective feelings and behaviors on landscape. Based on the agricultural landscape of Fengqiu County in Henan Province, we investigated the characteristics of the landscape elements which stakeholders preferred and analyzed the reasons using the questionnaire survey and other related methods. We proposed several suggestions for future development of the agricultural landscape in study area. The results showed that stakeholders preferred the landscape element which is simple and easy to manage, and emphasized the production and economic functions of agricultural landscape. Experts and local environmentalists preferred the landscape elements with multiple functions and benefits, as well as complex landscape configurations with high heterogeneity, with the aim to develop the multifunctional agricultural landscape. Factors such as education level, professional background and types of intervie-wees had obvious influences on the landscape preference of stakeholders. The decision-making beha-vior of government, the degree of economic compensation, and the technological support of eco-agriculture would be the important factors determining the possible development of landscape structure and function in the future.

Análise da Paisagem da Região de Dois Irmãos de Buriti, Mato Grosso do Sul

Human activities have fragmented the natural environment, making them more susceptible to the influences of matrix remaining where they are located. The geotechnology are tools applied to study of landscape elements and its dynamics. This research proposed the analysis of Dois Irmaos do Buriti City, inserted in the Cerrado biome, in relation to its morphological stability, using data of geomorphology, geology, soils and land use. In the second step was applied metric analysis to evaluate the isolation of fragments degree. Analysis done was noted that the region is about 55% averagely stable and moderately vulnerable. The vulnerable areas are located in north, midwest and east coast of city and are composed by young soils and sedimentary rocks. In south, there is an area of stability that promotes the economic development activities by presenting averagely stable. The landscape of study area has small fragments (Mode of 0.3 hectare and Average of 5.5 hectare) with high isolation (Average 190m), but with the form index tending to circulate. Finally, geotechnology served to the intended purpose facilitating the viewing and the income statement, creating an applicable georeferenced database.

Quantifying the Environmental Benefits of Conserving Grassland

The Missouri River Basin (MRB) functions as the “life zone” for the larger Mississippi River Basin, providing grassland habitat that infiltrates precipitation and recharges groundwater, reduces sediment erosion, filters nutrients, stores carbon, and provides critical habitat for wildlife. The role of this region as a producer of food and fuel, both nationally and internationally, creates unique challenges for conservation. To support conservation efforts and sustainable management of this invaluable resource, a large-scale, screening-level evaluation of the water quantity and quality benefits of land conservation efforts in the MRB was performed. This paper describes the development and application of a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to the MRB study area to provide estimates of water quantity and quality (sediment, total phosphorus, total nitrogen) benefits from the avoided conversion of intact grassland to cultivated cropland. The results of this study indicate that the avoided conversion of grassland to cropland could potentially prevent more than 1.7 trillion gallons of surface runoff as well as prevent the export of approximately 46 million tons of sediment, 87 million pounds of total phosphorus, and 427 million pounds of total nitrogen from the MRB study area landscape every year.

Sediments, soils, and the expansion of farmers into a forager's world: A geoarchaeological study of the mid-to-late Holocene in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

The transition from foraging to food production in interior southern Africa is still not well understood, despite being central to hypothesized migration and diffusion routes connecting the earliest agropastoralist sites in central Africa with the southern African subcontinent. Hwange National Park (14,650 sq. km), Zimbabwe is located along these proposed routes and has both Late Stone Age and Early Iron Age sites that can address this transition.To better understand this change in lifeways and any environmental and/or topographic factors that influenced it, geoarchaeological investigations characterized the soils, sediments, and landforms in six different areas of the park. Forty-eight stratigraphic sections varying from two to four m thick were described, six of which are detailed here. These stratigraphic sections include dated material that allows correlation between basins of different substrates and comparisons of carbon isotopic signatures to reveal whether conditions were locally favorable to grasses (hot/dry) or woodlands (cool/wet) through time.Examined river cuts and augered samples show that some river basins have sediment textures, soil types, and topographic relief that should have been attractive to farmers. However, radiocarbon ages reveal variable potential for finding remains of any early farmers from basin-to-basin, with some bedrock-constrained valleys having no preserved deposits of appropriate age. The repeated scouring of these river basins testifies to sometimes volatile conditions that would have challenged sustained food production.In fact, in the study area landscape instability and variable environmental conditions were commonplace during the past three millennia. Drought between ca. 2.8 and 2.6 ka may have lessened the risk of disease vectors for the earliest agropastoralists that arrived during more mesic conditions between 1.9 and 1.65 ka. At this time basins began to accumulate fill and soil development suggests landscape stability even in headland basins. Changes in soil carbon isotope values imply relatively hot/dry conditions prevailed around 0.73 ka and 0.41 ka and cool/wet conditions around 0.53 ka, but much information has been lost due to the numerous erosional events that wiped away swaths of sediments during intervening droughts. The landscape in Hwange National Park continues to change rapidly as reflected by several meters of river downcutting in response to recent man-made disturbance and/or drought. This downcutting both reveals and endangers the few remaining archaeological sites that are critical to understanding the first food producers in the region.

Habitat Modeling for Tiger (Penthra Tigris) Using Geo-spatial Technology of Panna Tiger Reserve (M.P.) India

The Tiger (Panthera tigris) population in India has undergone a sharp decline during the last few years. Habitat zones where prey populations are abundant are likely to be preferred by the tiger in comparison to those where they are scarce or absent. An area having a high density of road would be avoided by wild animals as compared to an area with few or no roads because there is a high traffic and constant noise. Habitat suitability index (HSI) models have been used to evaluate wildlife habitat. These models are based on functional relationships between wildlife and variables. Values of variables (e.g., herbaceous canopy cover, tree canopy cover, tree height) are related to quality on a suitability index (SI) scale from 0 = not to 1 = habitat of maximum suitability. Habitat suitability index scores, also on a 0-1 scale, are usually calculated using a mathematical formula representing hypothesized relationships among the individual SIs. Tiger (Panthera tigris) prefer core habitats, generally avoid area with high edge density. In the study area landscape, the Ken River is the perennial water sources; Prey species of tiger and the Tiger also preferred areas proximate to perennial water sources is favored. Tigers, under normal circumstances of human settlement, avoid traversing through such areas. Tigers preferred prey includes in the study area, this group is commonly represented by Chital (Axis axis), Sambar (Cervus unicolor), Wild-boar (Sus scrofa), Barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak), and Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) were also encountered in the study area.

Disturbance, life history traits, and dynamics in an old-growth forest landscape of southeastern Europe.

Much of our understanding of natural forest dynamics in the temperate region of Europe is based on observational studies in old-growth remnants that have emphasized small-scale gap dynamics and equilibrium stand structure and composition. Relatively little attention has been given to the role of infrequent disturbance events in forest dynamics. In this study, we analyzed dendroecological data from four stands and three windthrow patches in an old-growth landscape in the Dinaric Mountains of Bosnia and Herzegovina to examine disturbance history, tree life history traits, and compositional dynamics. Over all stands, most decades during the past 340 years experienced less than 10% canopy loss, yet each stand showed evidence of periodic intermediate-severity disturbances that removed > 40% of the canopy, some of which were synchronized over the study area landscape. Analysis of radial growth patterns indicated several life history differences among the dominant canopy trees; beech was markedly older than fir, while growth patterns of dead and dying trees suggested that fir was able to tolerate longer periods of suppressed growth in shade. Maple had the fastest radial growth and accessed the canopy primarily through rapid early growth in canopy gaps, whereas most beech and fir experienced a period of suppressed growth prior to canopy accession. Peaks in disturbance were roughly linked to increased recruitment, but mainly of shade-tolerant beech and fir; less tolerant species (i.e., maple, ash, and elm) recruited successfully on some of the windthown sites where advance regeneration of beech and fir was less abundant. The results challenge the traditional notions of stability in temperate old-growth forests of Europe and highlight the nonequilibrial nature of canopy composition due to unique histories of disturbance and tree life history differences. These findings provide valuable information for developing natural disturbance-based silvicultural systems, as well as insight into maintaining less shade-tolerant, but valuable broadleaved trees in temperate forests of Europe.

Genetic particle filter application to land surface temperature downscaling

Thermal infrared data are widely used for surface flux estimation giving the possibility to assess water and energy budgets through land surface temperature (LST). Many applications require both high spatial resolution (HSR) and high temporal resolution (HTR), which are not presently available from space. It is therefore necessary to develop methodologies to use the coarse spatial/high temporal resolutions LST remote‐sensing products for a better monitoring of fluxes at appropriate scales. For that purpose, a data assimilation method was developed to downscale LST based on particle filtering. The basic tenet of our approach is to constrain LST dynamics simulated at both HSR and HTR, through the optimization of aggregated temperatures at the coarse observation scale. Thus, a genetic particle filter (GPF) data assimilation scheme was implemented and applied to a land surface model which simulates prior subpixel temperatures. First, the GPF downscaling scheme was tested on pseudoobservations generated in the framework of the study area landscape (Crau‐Camargue, France) and climate for the year 2006. The GPF performances were evaluated against observation errors and temporal sampling. Results show that GPF outperforms prior model estimations. Finally, the GPF method was applied on Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager time series and evaluated against HSR data provided by an Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer image acquired on 26 July 2006. The temperatures of seven land cover classes present in the study area were estimated with root‐mean‐square errors less than 2.4 K which is a very promising result for downscaling LST satellite products.

Análise espacial de áreas com restrição legal de uso do solo em projeto de assentamento no sudeste paraense

The implementation of rural settlement projects in the Amazon can generate large impacts on the environment when are not associated with adequate planning. This study aimed at mapping land use and land cover in the area of the settlement project 26 de Março, in Marabá, Southeast of Pará State, Brazil, in order to assess the status of jurisdictional land use. We relied on products and techniques of remote sensing and GIS.The results showed that the study area landscape is dominated by pastures and secondary vegetation, with few original remaining forest fragments as forest areas are much more modest. We also observed that a considerable portion of the Permanent Preservation Areas does not comply with the Brazilian laws related to protection of riparian zones. In relation to the Legal Reserve, even though the same have not yet been deployed, this study a proposition was made based on level allotment.

Streamlined erosional residuals and drumlins in central British Columbia, Canada

The upland–lowland pattern in the plateau region of central British Columbia, Canada forms an extremely large anastomosing channel network, with the uplands representing interfluves between channels. The study area landscape is remarkably similar in form to water-produced channel systems and qualitatively resembles flood landscapes from the Channelled Scablands and the margins of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Numerical shape analysis of the area erosional residuals gives similar results as those derived from known flood landscapes; the length-to-width ratios of the uplands (L/W=2.38, R2=0.89) are similar to those reported for braid bars and erosional residuals formed by glacial outburst floods. Thus, the study area landscape records a megaflood or floods that almost completely immersed the landscape.Drumlins with, in places, ubiquitous hairpin furrows, locations downstream from steep slopes facing into the flow, and eroded into till and bedrock similarly reflect regional-scale meltwater flow that immersed the landscape. The regional flow submerged the anastomosing channels at the time of drumlin formation. Drumlins likely formed as the anastomosing network developed; divergent drumlin orientations probably reflect either late flow or separate drumlin-forming events that did not appreciably alter the anastomosing system.

한반도 중서부 지역의 후빙기 식생 변천사

A sediment core from the Cheollipo arboretum ( 47' 57'N, 09' 04') was studied for pollen analysis in order to reconstruct postglacial vegetational change and environmental changes around the central western region of the Korean Peninsula. The record shows four pollen assemblage zones: Zone CHL-I, Quercus stage (ca. 9,3006,200 yr BP): zone CHL-II, Quercus-Pinus stage (ca. 6,2004,600 yr BP); zone CHL- III, Pinus-Quercus stage (ca. 4,6001,160 yr BP): zone CHL-IV and Pinus stage (ca. 1,160 yr BP-present). During the 9,3008,500 yr BP, the early Holocene, researchers have guessed a piece of cool-temperate norihern/altimontane mixed coniferous and deciduous broad-leaved forest. Between 8,5004,600 yr BP the Quercus dominated the landscape of study area and the established dates of this typical cool-temperate central/montane deciduous broad-leaved forest vegetation might be ca. 6500 yr BP, and then the Pinus developed around the site at ca. 5,700 yr BP. The abrupt increase of Pinus and NAP (non-arboreal pollen) after ca. 1,100 yr BP indicates the vegetation changes due to human activities. From the dynamics of the Chenopodiaceae pollen indicating salt marsh and freshwater pollen flora such as Typha, Trapa, Nymphoides and so forth, we suggest that the tidal flat was altered into freshwater lake around 6,500 yr BP.

Caracterização espectral de estágios sucessionais de vegetação secundária arbórea em Altamira (PA), através de dados orbitais

Imagens TM/Landsat 5 (bandas TM1-TM5 e TM7) de Altamira, PA, de 07.02.1991 foram transformadas em reflectância de superfície usando o modelo 6S de correção atmosférica com o objetivo de caracterizar espectralmente formações florestais secundárias. Dados biofísicos (DAP, G e H) foram coletados de 16 parcelas em campo, os quais foram utilizados no cálculo da área basal total (GT) e da rugosidade do dossel (Rug) e no estabelecimento de correlações entre os valores de reflectância de superfície dessas mesmas parcelas. Os coeficientes de correlação mais elevados foram verificados nas relações com a banda TM7. Regressões lineares foram estabelecidas tendo como variável dependente os parâmetros biofísicos e como variável independente, os valores de reflectância de superfície da banda TM7, a partir das quais foram elaborados mapas temáticos representativos da distribuição espacial dos parâmetros biofísicos. A reflectância de superfície não foi sensível a valores pequenos de dados biofísicos. Apesar disso, a metodologia aqui empregada mostrou-se eficaz para estimativas remotas de dados dendrométricos.

Fragmentation of a forested Rocky Mountain landscape, 1950–1993

Patterns of change in landscape structure in a portion of the Hayden District of the Medicine Bow National Forest in southeastern Wyoming have been driven primarily by clearcut logging from 1950 to 1993; no major fires or wind storms have occurred in the study area during this time. Two distinct data sets, created from information in the Resource Information System database of the USDA Forest Service, were used as the basis for a quantitative analysis of landscape change. Forest fragmentation was quantified using a geographical information system (GRASS 4·1) to calculate indices of landscape structure. Increases in number of patches (1012 to 1331), total perimeter (3980 to 4400 km), Shannon diversity (2·36 to 2·63), contrast (2·49 to 2·68), and sum of edges (119·1 to 121·2 km) were accompanied by decreases in mean patch size (29·5 to 22·5 ha), mean patch shape (2·16 to 2·05), mean patch perimeter (3·91 to 3·3 km), dominance (1·04 to 0·81), contagion (4·30 to 4·07), and angular second moment (0·14 to 0·10). The observed trends in landscape pattern indicate increasing forest fragmentation since 1950. The study area landscape in 1993 is more fragmented than the landscape of the Oregon Cascades, now the subject of national attention and restoration action. As in other fragmented landscapes, the results suggest that previous management practices have lacked monitoring and analysis of landscape-scale impacts, indicating that increased attention to the landscape-scale is needed in future management actions.