Regional Land Cover Class Change in the Conterminous United States, 1985-2018

Keywords: USGS LCMAP, regional land cover class change, tree cover class gain and loss, conservation reserve program, urbanization
Session Type: Virtual Poster Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 39

Abstract

U.S. Geological Survey Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) project reference sample plots were interrogated at an annual basis to assess regional land cover class change for four large regions within the CONUS (Conterminous United States) for the 1985-2018 study period. The LCMAP reference plots numbered approximately 27,000 of which about 25,000 were randomly distributed across the CONUS and 2,000 came from a multi-stratum of class change transitions found by LCMAP’s LCACHG map product. The Eastern region had the most estimated land cover transitions, as well as the most sustained class changes across time, dominated by tree cover class loss and gains (mostly regrowth after harvest). The East region also had the most developed land cover gain, with several distinctive temporal eras of rate of change. The West-Central region (Great Plains) also had substantial estimated amounts of land cover transitions but mostly happening between cropland and grass/shrub land covers. This change was more episodic, generally following the history of the federal Conservation Reserve Program over time. The East-Central and the West regions had less estimated class changes, with tree cover gain and loss being the most common. The West sustained mostly annual tree cover lost over gain, differing from the other regions where gains and losses often offset each other. Some less frequent class changes at the regional scale suffered from annual “statistical holes” to the estimates from lack of observations even using the above augmented sampling effort.