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Land Use & Land Cover Dynamics

 

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Chapter 6 - Summary & Conclusions

A Brief Project Reprise  |  Conclusion from The Analysis  |  Limitations of The Study  |  Strategies for Further Study  |  Land Use & Land Cover Dynamics  |  A Land Ethic

Land Use & Land Cover Dynamics

The fifteen year time span, 1984 - 1999, considered in this study is a short increment of time in a long history of land use dynamics. This time period was chosen based upon the availability of current and compatible satellite imagery for classification and change detection as well as a means to provide current land use and land cover trends. This period also coincides with a period of substantial increases in agricultural activity.

It is important to consider this time period in the grand scheme of land use and land cover characteristics of Carroll County and Northwest Arkansas. The State of Arkansas was mostly forested before European settlement arrived in the first half of the 19th Century. Kuchler (1964) characterizes the potential natural vegetation of Northwest Arkansas as being comprised of mixed hardwood and softwood forests in association with sporadic upland prairies. Much of this forest was cleared for timber during the early part of the 20th Century. However, since World War II, much of Northwest Arkansas experienced reforestation associated with the movement of rural populations to urban cities. Perhaps current trends in the local agricultural economy has initiated a new phase of deforestation. The next fifteen years may offer an interesting perspective of our forest resources.