New Jersey maintains rapid rate of urban development and subsequent loss of open space
22/03/07 12:36 Filed in: Keep It Green
Campaign
For Immediate Release
New Brunswick/Glassboro, NJ
New Jersey is still among the most rapidly urbanizing states in the nation. That trend is continuing according to researchers at the Rutgers University Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis and Rowan University Department of Geography. The research team consisting Dr. Richard Lathrop and John Bognar (Rutgers) and Dr. John Hasse (Rowan) are evaluating newly-released data to assess urban development and loss of open space in New Jersey occurring during recent decades. The research, funded by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundations, utilizes a detailed digital map of land use in NJ created from high resolution aerial photographs taken in 2002 (please example below). The digital map, developed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, took 5 years to compile and is the third such map, providing an update to similar maps created for the years 1986 and 1995. The study compares land use changes and trends over these three dates.
New Brunswick/Glassboro, NJ
New Jersey is still among the most rapidly urbanizing states in the nation. That trend is continuing according to researchers at the Rutgers University Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis and Rowan University Department of Geography. The research team consisting Dr. Richard Lathrop and John Bognar (Rutgers) and Dr. John Hasse (Rowan) are evaluating newly-released data to assess urban development and loss of open space in New Jersey occurring during recent decades. The research, funded by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundations, utilizes a detailed digital map of land use in NJ created from high resolution aerial photographs taken in 2002 (please example below). The digital map, developed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, took 5 years to compile and is the third such map, providing an update to similar maps created for the years 1986 and 1995. The study compares land use changes and trends over these three dates.
Preliminary
findings of this on-going study reveal that urban
development increased statewide by 105,988 acres
during the 1995 – 2002 time period. A
corresponding amount of open space was lost
consisting of farmland, forest and wetlands. The data
also show that some regions of the state increased
the rate of development faster than others and that
in some areas there has been an especially
significant increase in the rate of upland forest
conversion. The completed report, expected to be
released at the end of spring 2007, will detail urban
development trends and loss of open space throughout
the state. Preliminary findings being released today
highlight the major trends occurring statewide
revealed in the analysis.
