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2006 Arkansas Land Use/Land Cover

 

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2006 Arkansas Land Use / Land Cover Project


Project Overview: The Arkansas LULC 2006 project developed statewide land-use/land-cover (LULC) maps representing the landscape of Arkansas in the year 2006 and provides follow-up monitoring from 1999 and 2004.  A modified Anderson Level II-III classification schema was used for the 30 × 30 m spatial scale of analysis.  The bulk of the LULC information was derived from Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) image scenes acquired in spring and summer of 2006.  Additional ancillary datasets used to extract LULC information were derived from the USGS National Elevation Dataset (NED), U.S. Bureau of the Census maps, and Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department road locations.  Training data was collected through extensive fieldwork and inspection of National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP) 1 × 1 m aerial photographs.  The project enabled specific from-to change information about agricultural crops, pasture types, forestland conversion, urban change, and seasonal flooding patterns.

   

 Project History: The 2006 LULC dataset is the latest in an ongoing effort to map the landscape of Arkansas.  This new digital map is a continuation of a project of the initial statewide LULC created for the year 1999.  In 1996 the pilot MAVA-LULC project was completed for 27 counties in eastern Arkansas which depicted the landscape of the Delta in 1992.  Maps from these different times can be used to see how land use has changed.  For example, between 1992 and 2004 the amount of land used for aquaculture (fish farms) in Chicot county in southeast Arkansas jumped from 8,453 acres to 20,862 acres.  In that same time period on the Grand Prairie of Arkansas, an important rice growing region, rice production went from 228,974 acres in 1992 to 209,138 acres in 2004.  The data also show considerable growth in Pulaski county in central Arkansas. Land use in the high density urban category (industrial and commercial lands) went from 18 mi 2 in 1992 to just under 29 mi 2 in 2004. Similar urban growth has taken place in northwest Arkansas and Jonesboro.

The three projects were funded by the Arkansas state legislature with the support of a number of state senators and representatives.  The funding came through the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC) ANRC and CAST have also collaborated on the production of other important natural resources digital data sets including new, extensive soil maps for the 75 counties of Arkansas.  ANRC and other state agencies recognize the value of spatial data, and use it in their various programs.

Conclusions: The 2006 Arkansas LULC data and workflow methodology built on, and substantially improved upon, the existing digital LULC maps available for Arkansas as a whole, including the 1999 and 2004 LULC datasets.  The 2006 dataset is consistent with that of the 2004 LULC project.  In addition to the data itself, the methods developed for the project such as quick ground-truth data-collection strategies, and automated image-processing procedures improved upon methods used in the 2004 study and will allow future land-use mapping projects to be completed in less time.

Combined with other natural resource and socio-economic data, the information discussed here should prove useful for natural-resource planners.  Overall, the results of the 2006 LULC study was quite positive, and further innovations in technologies, and strategies to use them, will continue to improve the accuracy, availability, and utility of digital geospatial data.

The final project datasets can be accessed on GeoStor, Arkansas' online spatial data warehouse.  Be sure to use the keyword "LULC" in GeoStor's "Find Data" tool.  You can also download the project report and an informative brochure. Finally, you can also access LULC data for specific watersheds, including pie charts and 1999-2006 LULC change information on the Arkansas Watershed Information System Page, here. For more information on the 2006 LULC study please contact Turn on JavaScript! or Turn on JavaScript!.