Title:

County-level land cover patterns for the conterminous United States for the 2020 RPA Assessment

Author(s):

Riitters, Kurt H.

Publication Year:

2023

How to Cite:

These data were collected using funding from the U.S. Government and can be used without additional permissions or fees. If you use these data in a publication, presentation, or other research product please use the following citation:

Riitters, Kurt, H. 2023. County-level land cover patterns for the conterminous United States for the 2020 RPA Assessment. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2023-0017

Abstract:

This data publication includes the status and trends of the areas of land cover classes, forest fragmentation classes, and landscape mosaic classes from 2001 to 2016 at the county level, for the conterminous United States (CONUS). Land cover is reported in ten classes representing an aggregation of the original 17 classes defined by the original land cover map producers. Forest fragmentation is reported in six classes representing the fragmentation of the forest land cover class, as calculated for each of six scales of analysis via a moving window (spatial convolution) algorithm. Landscape mosaics are reported in 19 classes plus one water class, representing the juxtaposition of agriculture and/or developed land cover with all other land cover, as calculated at one scale of analysis via a moving window algorithm. Land cover is presented in four data files comprising transition tables (to and from different land cover classes), at the county level, for the time periods 2001-2006, 2006-2011, 2011-2016, and 2001-2016. Forest fragmentation is reported in one data file containing county-level fragmentation class area totals in 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016. One landscape mosaic data file contains transition tables at the county level for all land area for the time period 2001-2016, to and from mosaic classes and/or water. A second landscape mosaic data file contains similar transition tables, at the county level, for the forest area only for the time period 2001-2016; in this file an additional non-mosaic, non-water class called nonforest is included such that forest area changes (losses and gains) can be evaluated in relation to their original and final mosaic classes.

Keywords:

environment; Ecology, Ecosystems, & Environment; Landscape ecology; Inventory, Monitoring, & Analysis; Assessments; fragmentation; landscape mosaics; land cover; RPA Assessment; Resources Planning Act Assessment; conterminous United States; CONUS

Related publications:

• Homer, Collin G.; Dewitz, Jon A.; Jin, Suming; Xian, George Z.; Costello, Catherine; Danielson, Patrick; Gass, Leila; Funk, Michelle; Wickham, James D.; Stehman, Stephen V.; Auch, Roger F.; Riitters, Kurt H. 2020. Conterminous United States land cover change patterns 2001-2016 from the 2016 National Land Cover Database. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. 162: 184-199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2020.02.019 https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/60009
• Riitters, Kurt H.; Wickham, James D.; Wade, Timothy G. 2009. An indicator of forest dynamics using a shifting landscape mosaic. Ecological Indicators. 9(1): 107-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2008.02.003 https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/30740
• Riitters, Kurt H. 2011. Spatial patterns of land cover in the United States: A technical document supporting the Forest Service 2010 RPA assessment. General Technical Report. SRS-136. Asheville, NC: USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 64 pages. https://doi.org/10.2737/SRS-GTR-136
• More (7 total)

Metrics:

Visit count : 499 0
Download count: 42
More details

Data Access:

• View metadata (HTML)
• View file index (HTML), which lists all files in this data publication and short description of their contents
• Download all files below for the complete publication:
  • RDS-2023-0017_Metadata_Fileindex.zip (26.77 KB; Checksum)
  • RDS-2023-0017.zip (9.02 MB; Checksum)

Need information about Using our Formats?