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Inquiry Activity • In Your Neighborhood

Chapter 10Local Land Cover

Problem What is the land cover in my neighborhood and my region?

Your Prediction

1.What is the most common type of land cover in your neighborhood?

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Background

Natural and Artificial Land Covers The Earth is blanketed by hundreds of different types of land cover. There are the natural covers, such as forests, open waters, and woody wetlands. Artificial land covers include the roads, homes, parking lots, and offices of cities and towns. There are also natural land covers that have been created or shaped by humans, such as pasture and cultivated croplands. Land cover is any growth or structure that covers the non-ocean portions of Earth’s surface. In the United States, there are 16 different categories of land covers tracked by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) using the Land Coverage Analysis Tool (LCAT).

Land Cover and Land Use We track land cover because land cover affects us. Each type of land cover is best suited for a few purposes. To build homes, we usually seek cleared land near paved roads. To grow food, we often need to plow. To generate power, we mine or drill into some lands and build power plants on others. Transportation requires a highway, a waterway, or a railroad. Land cover is inextricably linked to land use. The LCAT helps people form environmentally and economically sound plans for land use and development.

Figure 1. Land Covers are appropriate for different uses, including conservation.

Research Your Local Environment

Procedure

Materials Computer with Internet access

Step 1To find a map of land cover in your area, go to the USGS Land Cover Analysis Tool (LCAT) and activate the LCAT.

Step 2Select the “Analysis Layer” from the tab at the upper right of the screen. Make sure you select the most recent USGS Land Cover Data Set. Notice that different types of land cover are denoted by different colors.

Step 3In the upper right corner of the map, enter your street address and click Go.

Step 4Adjust “Analysis Layer Transparency,” so that you are able to see map features, such as towns and street names, underneath the colors of the map.

Step 5Zoom in so you can find the location of your home—or as close as you can go. If you have trouble finding your home’s location on the map, zoom in to whichever location near your address—a street, school, cemetery—is identifiable on the map, and navigate from there. Note that the land coverage data change as you zoom in or out on the map.

Step 6Complete the Data Tables for types and percentages of land cover.

Find the following information about land cover in your neighborhood.

2.Download, print, and attach a PDF report of the land cover in your neighborhood. Fill in the table below. Use a separate sheet if necessary.

Data Table 1
Types of Land Cover Around ______
Type of Land Cover / Area Covered (include units) / Percentage of Coverage
Total:

3.Briefly describe the land cover of your neighborhood, using your own observations as a resident of the area. Include specific descriptions of natural and fabricated features.

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Data Table 2
Types of Land Cover Around ______
Type of Land Cover / Area Covered (include units) / Percentage of Coverage
Total:

4.Zoom out to view your whole city or town and the surrounding area—your region. In the data table below, list the three most common land-cover types. Then, download and print a PDF report that lists all the land-cover types, amount of area covered, and the and their percent of coverage for that land cover in your region. Copy this information into the table. Use a separate sheet of paper if necessary.

Analyze and Conclude

5.Interpret Tables What types of land cover are the most common in your neighborhood?

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6.EvaluateLook at the different land cover types and the percentage they each cover in your region. Are these data what you expected? Are there any surprising results? Explain your response.

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7.Compare and Contrast Compare the land cover of your neighborhood to that of your region. How are they similar? How are they different?

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8.Draw Conclusions What covers the land often indicates how the land is or can be used by humans. How does the land cover of your neighborhood relate to the way that this land is used?

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9.Extension Predict how the land cover of your region might change if it is used differently over the next 10 years.

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Local to Global

10.Evaluate Your Prediction How has your view of the land cover in your neighborhood and region expanded since completing the activity?

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11.Think Globally Why might land cover information be crucial to city planners developing sustainable cities? How might they use this information to help them plan? Support your answer with specific examples.

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Environmental Science • Lab Manual

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