Geography 4742 Land Use

Geography 4742 Land Use: Lecture Notes

Aug 26

Introduction: Land Use in Geographical Analysis

Platt Chap. 1.

What are land and land resources?

Physical stuff, soil, vegetation, habitat (but is this the land or the resources on/in the land????)—some elements are "severable"

Place (social and cultural values attached to land)

Territory (usually define by the state, but also less formal).

Real estate:: "Space enclosing uses" ---PARCELS (note debate in Boulder County about ‘merging" and "un-merging" parcels)
Ownership: you own an "object of capital value": Bundle of rights and obligations; How Much Land, in what uses, in U.S.?; 2.1 b acres (7.5 ac/person; 1/ac in CT; 1/64 ac in ND) –higher per capita than most places around the world.

60% is private, 32% federal, 6% state/local; 2 Tribal

Land Classification (this was the original main goal and content of land use analysis)

3/4ths: Cropland, grazing, pasture, forest [Platt goes over the debate over farmland loss, erosion, etc.---we’ll discuss later]

Platt adds: recreation lands; wetlands; floodplains; this is all very confusing: LAND USE vs LAND COVER (or physical status)

urban, built-up; residential, commercial, industrial, infrstructure, etc.—maybe 6-8% of conterminous 48 states

BUT: distiguishing urban from rural, or "open" from devlewoped, is didficult, little data.

Classification schemes still problematic: e.g., US Forest Service classifies clear cuts as forest land, though at this moment they may not be "timber land" or in a forest cover. Relationship b/w LAND USE and LAND COVER; much overlap and ambiguity, e.g., farmland w/o crops.

DISCUSSION