Explaining Human Settlement Patterns in a Recreational Lake District: Vilas County, Wisconsin, USA

Abstract

Lakeshore development in Vilas County, northern Wisconsin (USA) is heterogeneous, ranging from lakes that are surrounded by homes and commercial establishments to lakes that have no buildings on their shorelines. Development in this recreational area has increased, and since the 1960s over half of new homes have been built on the lakeshore. We examined building density around lakes in relationship to 11 variables, including in-lake, shoreline, and social characteristics. Buildings in many parts of northern Wisconsin tend to be concentrated around shorelines; in Vilas County 61% of all medium-sized buildings (our proxy for residential development) on private land were < or =100 m of a lake. The probability of development on a lake was largely related to lake surface area, with larger, more accessible lakes showing a higher probability of development. Building density along shorelines varied with travel cost, lake surface area, presence of wetlands, and extent of public land ownership. Building density was greater on larger, more accessible lakes that were surrounded by forest (as opposed to wetlands) and public lands. Gaining a more precise understanding of human settlement patterns can help direct planning and resource protection efforts to lakes most likely to experience future development.

The changes of densities and patterns of roads and rural buildings: a case study on Dongzhi Yuan of the Loess Plateau, China

“…It is very necessary for us to understand the factors that can influence the development of rural areas in explaining the interaction between landscape and culture changes (Schnaiberg et al 2002;Gonzalez-Abraham et al 2007a, b). Roads and buildings were chosen as obvious symbols of rural development in Dongzhi Yuan, which has a long agricultural history.…”

“…Roads and buildings have been recognized as primary causes of anthropogenic landscape changes (Forman 1998;Forman and Alexander 1998;Hammer et al 2004;Hawbaker and Radeloff 2004;Hawbaker et al 2005Hawbaker et al , 2006GonzalezAbraham et al 2007a), which have strongly altered the land surface at various scales (Miller et al 1996;Penteriani et al 2001;Saunders et al 2002;Schnaiberg et al 2002;Miller et al 2003). They cause destruction of natural vegetation, soil erosion, invasion of exotic species, fragmentation of wildlife habitats, etc.…”

“…In addition to socioeconomic and cultural characteristics (Buntgen et al 2006), natural factors, including topography (Turner et al 1996), soil (Dale et al 1993), water and lakes (Schnaiberg et al 2002;Walsh et al 2003), visibility (Sevenant and Antrop 2007), and land cover (Hawbaker et al 2005;Martinuzzi et al 2007), largely control their densities and patterns at the regional and landscape scales (Banaszuk and Wysocka 1998;GonzalezAbraham et al 2007b;Jenerette et al 2007). Recently, roads and buildings have increased not only in urban and suburban areas, but also in rural areas with higher ecological values (Meigs and Sauber 2000;Schnaiberg et al 2002;GonzalezAbraham et al 2007b;Sevenant and Antrop 2007). Hence, understanding the temporal and spatial relationships between environmental factors and roads or buildings in rural areas is very helpful for the planning of roads and rural buildings and the restoration of the disturbed ecosystems.…”

Characterizing a Populated Riparian Zone

“…Understanding of terrestrial-aquatic interactions is critical for assessing ecological effects of development because human settlements are often clustered near such areas [7] [8]. Environmental changes caused by human activities are often agent of perturbation in these systems [9].…”

“…Understanding of terrestrial-aquatic interactions is critical for assessing ecological effects of development because human settlements are often clustered near such areas [7] …”