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
Ownership: you own an "object of capital value"
Bundle of rights and obligations
How Much Land, in
what uses, in
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, infrastructure, etc.—maybe 6-8% of conterminous 48 states
BUT: distinguishing urban from rural, or "open" from developed, is difficult, 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.
Slides and Discussion