Southern Research Station

Title: Spatial patterns of land cover in the United States: a technical document supporting the Forest Service 2010 RPA Assessment

Author: Riitters, Kurt H.

Date: 2011

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-136. Asheville, NC: Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 64 p.

Station ID: GTR-SRS-136

Description: Land cover patterns inventoried from a national land cover map provide information about the landscape context and fragmentation of the Nation’s forests, grasslands, and shrublands. This inventory is required to quantify, map, and evaluate the capacities of landscapes to provide ecological goods and services sustainably. This report documents the procedures to inventory and summarize land cover composition, juxtaposition, and structure as exhibited at several measurement scales. National and regional results are summarized in tabular form, and representative statistics are illustrated in figures (for States) and maps (for counties). The baseline information in this inventory is a starting point for future analyses of landscape changes.

Keywords: Forest, fragmentation, grassland, inventory, land cover pattern, Resources Planning Act, shrubland

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Citation

Riitters, Kurt H.  2011.  Spatial patterns of land cover in the United States: a technical document supporting the Forest Service 2010 RPA Assessment.   Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-136. Asheville, NC: Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 64 p..