Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Ownership Parcels and Forest Cover in three Counties of Northern Lower Michigan USA, CA. 1970 to 1990

This chapter explores the relationship between land ownership subdivision and forest fragmentation to better understand the ways humans and forests have interacted in a temperate forest region in the North Central USA. Geographic information technologies were used to assess the dynamics of landscape configuration of private land ownerships and forest habitats in three forested counties over a 20-year period. Spatial and temporal patterns of land parcel subdivision were analyzed using digitized plat maps, while patterns of forest cover and forest cover change were assessed using digital remotely sensed data. Changes in land parcel subdivision and forest cover were observed in an area surrounding a small and growing central place, and their coincident patterns were used to evaluate the degree to which these phenomena are linked. The results show no direct connection between fragmentation of ownerships and that of forests. This finding highlights the complex interactions that govern landscape change, and indicate a need for new models that incorporate growing “footloose” populations, that is populations whose livelihoods are not directly tied to the land on which they reside.