Access, Isolation and the New American Frontier Paul Lorah

Turner and the American Frontier "Up to and including 1880, the country had a frontier of settlement but at present the unsettled area has been so broken into by isolated bodies of settlement that there can hardly be said to be a frontier line." - Superintendent of the Census, 1890 In the census reports it is treated as the margin of that settlement which has a density of two or more to the square mile.

2010 Census Population density less than2 people per square mile

“….popularization of tourism and the quaintness of the folk…” war dances? Fearsome deserts?

6.3 million km of roads 5.3 million km of streams We can drive within 1km of 82% of the US Standing anywhere in the US % roads closer than second base 20% road as close as centerfield fence

Fig. 3. Map of by county in the conterminous United States. R D Watts et al. Science 2007;316: Published by AAAS

Fig. 2. (Left) A square road pattern produces a pyramid of roadless volume. R D Watts et al. Science 2007;316: Published by AAAS

Science Magazine video

Creating a national map displaying friction of distance Data - ESRI StreetMap

Streets

Major Roads

Highways

Interstate Highways

Railroads

“Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things."

Interstate Highways

Highways

Major Roads

Rails

Streets

Friction of Distance Roads & Rails

Intersections

Road-effect zone along 10 km of a Massassachusets highway “The zone is asymmetric with convoluted boundaries, reflecting the sequence of ecological variables, plus unequal effect-distances due to slope, wind, and habitat suitability on opposite sides of a road”

Roads are highlighted in the scientific literature as major causes of landscape fragmentation, and function as barriers to organism movements, resulting in a reduction of overall landscape connectivity for many native species. The effects of roads are broad and include mortality from collisions, modification of animal behaviour, disruption of the physical environment, alteration of chemical environments, spread of exotic and invasive species, habitat loss, increase in edge effects, interference with wildlife life-history functions and degradation of aquatic habitats through alteration of stream banks and increased sediment loads (Franklin & Forman 1987; Andrews 1990; Noss & Cooperrider 1994; Reice 1994; Reed, Johnson-Barnard & Baker 1996; Trombulak & Frissell 2000; McGarigal et al. 2001).Franklin & Forman 1987 Andrews 1990Noss & Cooperrider 1994Reice 1994Reed, Johnson-Barnard & Baker 1996Trombulak & Frissell 2000 McGarigal et al Assessing the value of roadless areas in a conservation reserve strategy: biodiversity and landscape connectivity in the northern Rockies 1.MICHELE R. CRIST 1,*, 2.BO WILMER 2, 3.GREGORY H. APLET 3 Article first published online: 22 FEB 2005 DOI: /j x Issue Journal of Applied Ecology Volume 42, Issue 1, Volume 42, Issue 1, pages 181–191, February 2005

Omernik

Modeling a Wilderness Continuum

Roads

More WildLess Wild ConnectedIsolated Correlation Between Wilderness and Isolation

More WildLess Wild ConnectedIsolated Correlation Between Wilderness and Isolation

ConnectedIsolatedMore WildLess Wild

ConnectedIsolatedMore WildLess Wild