Evaluating relationships between natural resource management, land use changes, and flooding in the Appalachian region

Abstract

Th e Appalachian Region has a long history of natural resource management and recurrent history of frequent and large-scale floods. Land use activities such as urbanization, mining, forest harvesting, and agriculture can have a noticeable effect on the volume, magnitude, timing, and frequency of floods. Determining the effects of land use on flooding is difficult for many reasons, and there are no exact methods of identifying the impacts of land use on flood generation across larger scales. To ascertain the potential effects of land use changes on fl ooding in this region, a flood production metric was developed by using retrospective analysis between the proportions of land use and flood count data for 420 counties in 13 states. Generalized linear models were used to identify landscape and climate attributes that explain the largest variations in fl ood data during 2000, 2001, and 2002. Results show that forests, agriculture, riparian forest, impervious surfaces, precipitation, topographic slope, and surface coal production explain variations in floods in this region. Future changes in land use have the potential to increase or decrease flooding and should be considered in natural resource management with respect to the mosaic of land uses in the Appalachian Region.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings, 18th Central Hardwood Forest Conference

Citation

Zegre, Nicolas P.; Lamont, Samuel J. 2013. Evaluating relationships between natural resource management, land use changes, and flooding in the Appalachian region. In: Miller, Gary W.; Schuler, Thomas M.; Gottschalk, Kurt W.; Brooks, John R.; Grushecky, Shawn T.; Spong, Ben D.; Rentch, James S., eds. Proceedings, 18th Central Hardwood Forest Conference; 2012 March 26-28; Morgantown, WV; Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-117. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 252-258.