Private forests, public benefits: increased housing density and other pressures on private forest contributions

Abstract

The Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is dedicated to the principle of multiple use management of the Nation's forest resources for sustained yields of wood, water, forage, wildlife, and recreation. Through forestry research, cooperation with the States and private forest owners, and management of the National Forests and National Grasslands, it strives-as directed by Congress-to provide increasingly greater service to a growing Nation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.

Development of scenarios for land cover, population density, impervious cover, and conservation in New Hampshire, 2010–2100

“…The result is one scenario with rapid dispersed development (Backyard), a suite of compact growth scenarios (Community), and one intermediate scenario Stein et al 2009Stein et al , 2010. Impervious cover increases, bringing 15 new HUC10 watersheds (USDA-NRCS et al 2015) in southern New Hampshire into the "impacted" category by 2100 (Arnold and Gibbons 1996).…”

“…Since 1987, New Hampshire has lost forest area to development (Drummond and Loveland 2010, Levesque 2010, Thompson et al 2013, especially in the southeast , Sundquist 2012. Although population growth has slowed since 2000 ), several projections suggest that development in the southeast will continue to expand over the subsequent several decades (Stein et al 2009, USEPA 2009, Bierwagen et al 2010, Stein et al 2010, Sundquist 2012, with major implications for ecosystem services in the region. For example, three watersheds in southern New Hampshire have been ranked in the top five watersheds nationally in terms of projected degradation of water quality due to increased housing density on existing private forestland (Stein et al 2009), and the same watersheds are classified in the 90th percentile nationally in terms of threats to forest species at risk from housing development (Stein et al 2010).…”

Islands on the edge: housing development and other threats to America's Pacific and Caribbean Island forests: a Forests on the Edge report

“…As in previous Forests on the Edge studies, the terms housing development and increased housing density refer to an increase in the number of housing units 3 per unit area on rural lands such that the housing density shifts from either the rural I or rural II categories to a higher density category (Stein et al 2007(Stein et al , 2009Theobald 2005), where:…”

“…A spatially explicit model was used to predict the full urban-to rural spectrum of housing densities (Theobald 2005). The same projection approach was used in previous FOTE reports, and additional discussion and description can be found in those sources (for example, refer to the appendix in the Private Forests/Public Benefits report [Stein et al 2009]). …”

“…Public forest lands are those owned by Federal, State, or local governments. Public forests are not available for residential development but can be affected by increased housing density on or near their boundaries (Stein et al 2009). …”