Abstract
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations conducted a global assessment for forest change in 2010 using satellite imagery from 1990, 2000, and 2005. The U.S. Forest Service was responsible for assessing forest change in the United States. A polygon-based, stratified sampling design developed by FAO was used to assess change in forest area within 10 km by 10 km tiles at every 1° from 1990, 2000, and 2006 using Landsat TM and ETM+ data. The assessment included: 1) mapping land cover (tree and non-tree) and land use (forest and nonforest) within these tiles for each time period; 2) a segment-based analysis of land use transition between 1990 and 2000, and 2000 and 2005; 3) reporting forest change (area) by FAO ecoregions; and 4) comparing the estimates from segment-based analysis of land cover and land use change in the coterminous United States between the study periods. The current paper summarizes the estimates of land use change by FAO ecoregions in the United States between 1990 and 2000, and 2000 and 2006 based on the survey and compares land cover and land use change estimates for the coterminous United States. Our analysis shows that most forested and nonforested areas remained unchanged during each time period. Overall rate of forest loss was higher between 1990 and 2000 than between 2000 and 2006. Net forest loss in the United States for the entire study period was 0.79 percent. The ecoregion stratum subtropical humid forest showed the highest net forest loss, followed by temperate continental forest and temperate mountain system. Net forest and tree cover change was higher in 1990-2000 than 2000-2006 in the coterminous United States and confirmed that land cover change does not necessarily indicate land use change.
Parent Publication
Keywords
statistics,
estimation,
sampling,
modeling,
remote sensing,
forest health,
data integrity,
environmental monitoring,
cover estimation,
international forest monitoring
Citation
Biswas, Tanushree; Walterman, Mike; Maus, Paul; Megown, Kevin A.; Healey, Sean P.; Brewer, Kenneth. 2012. Assessment of land use change in the coterminous United States and Alaska for global assessment of forest loss conducted by the food and agricultural organization of the United Nations. In: Morin, Randall S.; Liknes, Greg C., comps. Moving from status to trends: Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) symposium 2012; 2012 December 4-6; Baltimore, MD. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-105. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. CD-ROM : 37-45.
