1. Chapter 14 Land

2. Section 1 How We Use Land
What is land cover? What you find on a patch of land. It depends on how the land is used.
ex. forest, grain, parking lots

3. What is a urban area?
Contains 2,500 or more people.
Has a government or city council.
What is a rural area?
Few people.
Large open spaces.

4. Resources Provided By Land that Humans Consume
Wood
Crops
Mineral resources.

5. Primary Land-Use Categories
Rangeland
Land used to graze livestock and wildlife.
Forest land
Land used for harvesting wood, wildlife, fish, nuts, and other resources.

6. Cropland
Land used to grow food and fiber.
Parks and preserves
Land used for recreation and scenic enjoyment and for preserving native animal and plant communities and ecosystems
Wetlands, mountains, deserts, etc.
Land that is difficult to use for human purposes
Urban land
Land that is used for houses, businesses, industry, and roads.

8. Where We Live
Before 1850, most people lived in rural areas. They farmed, raised livestock, or worked in mills and mines.
The Industrial Revolution changed our living patterns. Jobs were lost in rural areas and many had to move to the city.
Urban areas grew rapidly between 1880 and 1950.

10. The Urban-Rural Connection
No matter where people live, they are dependent on resources provided by rural areas.
Ecosystem services are those provided by natural and artificial ecosystems.
Each person in the US uses resources from about 12 hectares of land.

12. Section 2 Urban Land Use
What is urbanization? Movement of people from rural areas to urban areas.
Why move to urban areas?
More plentiful and better paying jobs.
School.
Recreational areas.

13. What are metropolitan areas?
Areas where small towns have grown together and formed larger urban areas.
ex. Denver-Boulder in Colorado
Boston-Worchester-Lawrence in
Massachusetts
Washington, D.C.- Baltimore

14. Why are urban areas that grow slowly pleasant places to live?
Roads and public transportation have been built to handle the growth allowing traffic to flow freely.
Buildings, roads, and parking lots are mixed with green spaces that provide these urban areas with much needed ecosystem services such as moderation of temperature, infiltration of rainwater runoff, and aesthetic value.

15. What is a urban crisis? When more people live in the city than the infrastructure can support. What are some problems found in an urban crisis? Traffic jams Substandard housing Polluted air and water

16. What is infrastructure. Things a society builds for public use
What is infrastructure? Things a society builds for public use. Includes: roads canals sewers schools railroads libraries bridges hospitals water mains power lines fire and police stations

17. Example of urban crisis: Hong Kong
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Example of urban crisis: Hong Kong
Hillside is covered with substandard housing and the necessary infrastructure for healthy living is missing.

18. What happens during urban sprawl?
Rapid spread of a city into adjoining suburbs and rural areas.
This growth results in the building of suburbs, or housing and associated commercial buildings on the boundary of a larger town.
Many of these suburbs are built on land that was previously used for food production. In fact, each year suburbs spread over another 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land in the United States.

19. What is marginal land? Land that is poorly suited for building.
What happens when homes are built on marginal land? Damage that impossible to repair and insurance is expensive due to risk.
Examples: Los Angeles and Mexico City
- both were built in basins with little room for expansion. When they did expand it was up into the surrounding mountains on hillsides prone to landslides.

20. How can urbanization impact a city?
City generate and trap more trap. Roads and cities absorb more heat than vegetation does and retains it longer.
It may result in a heat island, a city with an increased temperature.
ex. Atlanta
Heat islands affect local weather patterns. The increase in heat results in an increase in rainfall.
Can be reduced by planting trees for shade and installing roofs that reflect heat

21. Land-use planning determines in advance how land will be used
Land-use planning determines in advance how land will be used. What may be decided in advance?
Where houses, businesses, and factories will be built.
What land will be protected for recreation.
Locations for shopping malls, sewers, electrical lines, etc.

22. What kind of problems exist in land-use planning?
Developers must prepare reports on the environmental impact of the land use for federal, state, and local governments.
Reports must be made available to the public.
There is often disagreement about land-use plans between developers, city governments, local businesses, and citizens.

23. What is GIS used for?
Computerized system for storing, manipulating, and viewing geographic data.
Land-use planners use it for producing maps that display specific information.

24. GIS Views of Seattle, Washington

25. Transportation in Cities
What are mass transit systems designed for? Moving many people at once.
ex. buses, trains
Advantages of mass transit systems:
1. save energy
2. reduce highway congestion
3. reduce air pollution
4. limit the loss of land to roadways and parking lots

26. What is open space?
Land within urban areas that is set aside for scenic and recreational enjoyment.
ex. parks, public gardens, and bicycle and hiking trails
They may also be called greenbelts.
Provide ecological services.

27. What are some environmental benefits of open spaces?
Plants may remove CO2 from the atmosphere and add O2.
Plants may filter out pollutants from air and water.
Reduce drainage problems by absorbing rainwater runoff.
Provide places for exercise and relaxation.

28. Section 3 Land Management and Conservation

29. Farmlands
Some of the most productive farmlands are being threatened by urban development.
ex. North Carolina’s Piedmont region, and Minnesota’s Twin Cities area
1996: National Farmland Protection Program- help state, county, and local governments protect farmland in danger of being paved over, developed, etc

30. Rangelands
Rangeland includes land that supports different types of vegetation that is not used for farming or timber production. Ex. grasslands, shrubland, and deserts
Most common use is grazing of livestock.
Most common livestock are cattle, sheep, and goats which are valued for meat, milk, wool, and hides.
Important for native wildlife.
Essential for maintaining the world’s food supply.

31. Problems with Rangeland
Degraded by poor land management.
Damaged due to overgrazing.
Overgrazing may result in a change in the plant community. When too many desirable plants are eaten, invasive plants may invade the area and replace them.
Severe cases of overgrazing result in loss of all vegetaion and then soil erosion may occur.

32. Maintaining the Range
Most rangeland in the US today is managed by the federal government and leased to ranchers. Much of it is degraded.
Public Rangelands Improvement Act of enacted to reverse the trend toward degradation and improve land management practices.

33. Maintaining Rangelands con’t.
Sustaining rangelands includes:
1. limiting herds to sizes that will reduce overgrazing
2. leaving land unused for a period of time to allow vegetation time to recover
3. killing invasive plants that may take over
grazing lands
4. planting more native vegetation
5. fencing off areas to prevent overgrazing

34. Forest Lands Uses for forest lands:
1. wood for paper, furniture, and lumber for homes, etc.
2. products such as maple syrup and turpentine
3. removal of carbon dioxide from the air

35. Harvesting Trees 3 categories of forests:
1. virgin forest - never been cut
2. native forest – planted and managed
3. tree farms- trees are planted in rows and harvested like other crops

36. Harvesting Trees
Clear-cutting
Selective cutting

37. Harvesting Continued
Clear-cutting destroys established wildlife habitats and may cause soil erosion.
Selective cutting only removes middle-aged or mature trees. This is less destructive but more expensive and is usually only practiced in smaller areas owned by individuals.

38. Deforestation Removal of trees without replanting.
Problems associated with deforestation:
erosion and loss of topsoil
reduction in wildlife habitats
Deforestation is high in tropical rainforests. The soil is thin and poor in nutrients so farmers continuously move from one plot to another and cut down more trees.

39. Reforestation Re-establishing trees that have been cut down.
Forest may be replanted or allowed to regrow naturally.
Many governments require reforestation after timber cutting.

40. Parks and Reserves Yellowstone was the first national park.
US has about 50 national parks.
Public lands are not as protected as national parks are.
Public lands may be leased for logging, mining, and ranching.
Some public lands are maintained for hunting, fishing, wildlife refuges, or for protecting endangered species.

41. Parks and Reserves

42. Parks and Reserves con’t
Biosphere reserve- set up several hundred preserves throughout the world. They are places where human and wildlife live side by side.

43. Wilderness
1964: US Wilderness Act- designated certain areas as wilderness areas.
Wilderness areas are protected from all exploitation.
Not allowed: building roads or structures, motorized equipment
Allowed : hiking, fishing, boating (no motors), and camping.

44. Benefits of Protected Areas
Protected areas often provide the only place where unspoiled forests, deserts, or prairies remain. Without these areas, the plants and animals that can survive only in these ecosystems would disappear.
Wilderness areas serve as outdoor classrooms and research labs, as well as recreation areas.

45. Threats to Protected Areas
As more and more people visit these areas, litter and traffic jams now plague many of our national parks.
Rangelands, mining and logging sites, oil and gas operations, power plants, and urban areas are often close enough to affect the parks.
In addition, preserved areas are affected by climate change and by air and water pollution, as are most other parts of the world.

46. Threat con’t. Attempts to protect wilderness areas include:
1. setting limits on number of people permitted at a time.
2. closing areas for wildlife to breed
3. Volunteer programs are now active in many wilderness areas. Volunteers help pick up trash, build trails, control invading or exotic species, and help educate the visiting public.