             
 The LUHNA Book!
|
            |
 |
|
In late 1994, the National Biological Service (NBS), now the Biological Resources Division (BRD) of the U. S. Geological Survey, initiated a program to develop an historical atlas of North American landscapes. Initial efforts included a workshop and a series of pilot projects funded jointly by USGS and NASA's Earth Sciences Enterprise. These efforts integrated perspectives in geography, ecology, environmental history, sociology, statistics, and cartography. The first phase of this new program, LUHNA, the Land Use History of North America project, focused on ten projects with historical vegetation and land cover patterns, as well as the anthropogenic factors driving those changes. The projects present spatial data, present map-based data on landcover and land use, and integrate historical information drawn from diverse sources, including paleoecological records, historical narratives, early land surveys, aerial photography, and satellite imagery. Articles derived from the pilot projects have been peer reviewed and are served to the public on this web site. The site highlights three papers that provide an introduction to continent-wide trends, and six detailing trends in landcover and land use for selected regions around the continent. Ongoing efforts to compile a comprehensive LUHNA project for the Colorado Plateau (including parts of Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico) are currently underway, and USGS, NASA, and many other LUHNA partners are working to expand the program to new sites. Together, these efforts will provide the historical perspective on land and natural resources that will allow managers, landowners, and the public to assess current trends and make more informed decisions about key environmental issues.
Initial LUHNA Workshop, August 13-14 1995
Text-only |