Abstract

How did topographic landscape characteristics combine with socioeconomic factors to effect past land use decisions? US Forest Service purchase era (1930s-40s) land use maps were digitized in ArcGIS. Topographic characteristics of land use classes were analyzed for evidence of land use and abandonment rationale. Spatially explicit logistic regression was employed to generate a continuous index for crop field “suitability”. This index was combined with historical property boundaries and farm-level agricultural census data to create landscape specific backcasted land use maps for 1850-1860. Backcasted land use has implications for understanding contemporary biophysical conditions at the Calhoun.

Citation

Coughlan, M. (2016): Historical land use and land use change in and around the Calzone. Calhoun CZO 2016 Summer Science Meeting, Clinton, SC.

This Paper/Book acknowledges NSF CZO grant support.