Land Use, Recreation, and Wildlife Habitats: GIS Applications Using FIA Plot Data

Abstract

Spatial contexts govern whether and how land is used. Forest surveys inventory land uses from sampled plots and provide common forest resource summaries with limited information about associated nearby uses, or the landscape context. I used the USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis program of the South-Central States survey region (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, east Oklahoma, Tennessee, and east Texas) to derive landscape context information. Methods employed moving averages (statistical combinations of sample plot observations with those from adjacent sample plots) to portray the spatial context, or "neighborhood" for forest resource appraisals. The survey region had 32,000 plots with land use information, and half of the plots classed as forest land provided more detailed information. Results yielded regional maps with displays of high and low probability of common land uses. For forest land, attributes shown include roads, forest fragment size, and hunting signs. Models of land use "hot spots" of competing and complementary uses are provided, forest land attributes important to selected recreational opportunity and wildlife habitat appraisals are discussed.

Citation

Rudis, Victor A. 2001. Land Use, Recreation, and Wildlife Habitats: GIS Applications Using FIA Plot Data. In: Reams, Gregory A.; McRoberts, Ronald E.; Van Deusen, Paul C., eds. 2001. Proceedings of the second annual Forest Inventory and Analysis symposium; 2000 October 17-18; Salt Lake City, UT. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-47. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 129-136