Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Changes in Pima County, Arizona Land Cover 1992-2001
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Author
Fonseca, Julia
Regan, John
Jones, Cory
Probstfeld, Mark
Publisher
Pima County, Office of Conservation Science and Environmental Policy
Publication Year
2009
Body

Abstract
A previous report recommended that land cover and land-use change be incorporated into the Pima County Ecological Monitoring Plan (Fonseca 2008). The monitoring plan, currently in the design phase is being developed for habit conservation purposes. Local, GIS-based measures of delopment based on tax assessor records do not provide direct measures of habit loss. National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) is the only monitoring program avaiable at this time to provide independent assessments of habitat loss. This report develops the methods for using NLCD to report change by jurisdictions and land ownership by utilizing an existing dataset.
The NLCD indicates forested wetland area in Pima County has increased by 4803 (19%) from 1992 through 2001, even as the footprint of urban and industrial development has expanded. Most of the conversions in natural land cover to urban development (mean rate of change = 1,200 acres/year) occured on private lands in eastern Pima County, while changes in land cover on federal and tribal lands have resulted from ecological processes such as fire and woody plant growth. Loss of natural vegetation cover to urban development based on NLCD is close to the rate of 1,357 acres/year that was projected for the initial ten years of the Pima County Multi-species Conservation Plan (RECON 2006; EIS 2003). Both rates are substantially lower than those that might be inferred from land consumption estimates derived from census data.
Source: Changes in Pima County, Arizona Land Cover 1992-2001

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Technical Report
Keywords
Altar Valley
Arizona
Pima County
Southern Arizona
United States