Kennaway, T., and Helmer, E.H. 2007. The Forest Types and Ages Cleared for Land Development in Puerto Rico. GIScience and Remote Sensing 44(4):356-382.
Publication_Date: 2007
Title: IITF_GISciRS44_puertorico_landcov1991.img
Edition: 1
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: raster digital data
Series_Information:
Other_Citation_Details:
Kennaway, T., and Helmer, E.H. 2007. The Forest Types and Ages Cleared for Land Development in Puerto Rico. GIScience and Remote Sensing 44(4):356-382.
Distributions of land cover and forest formations for Puerto Rico, Vieques and Culebra were mapped from previously published Landsat satellite image mosaics dated 1991 and 2000. This file is the map of land cover and forest formations for 1991.
Important notes:
1. Open drought deciduous woodlands, with 25 to 60% woody vegetation cover, are grouped with pasture in the version of this map that is generalized to land cover.
2. Low density urban lands are included with the Urban class and may have as little as 10-15% urban/built-up lands.
3. Errors from minor misregristration between the maps from 1991-2000 will cause some error in analyses of change.
4. We recommend using urban change data from Helmer and Ruefenacht (2005) to estimate urban change from 1991-2000.
On the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, forest, urban/built-up and pasture lands have replaced most formerly cultivated lands. The extent and age distribution of each forest type that undergoes land development, however, is unknown. This study assembles a time series of four land-cover maps for Puerto Rico. The time series includes two digitized paper maps of land cover in 1951 and 1978 that are based on photo interpretation. The other two maps are of forest type and land cover and are based on decision tree classification of Landsat image mosaics dated 1991 and 2000. With the map time series we quantify land-cover changes from 1951 to 2000; map forest age classes in 1991 and 2000; and quantify the forest that undergoes land development (urban development or surface mining) from 1991 to 2000 by forest type and age. This step relies on intersecting a map of land development from 1991-2000 (from the same satellite imagery) with the forest age and type maps. Land-cover changes from 1991-2000 that continue prior trends include urban expansion and transition of sugar cane, pineapple and other lowland agriculture to pasture. Forest recovery continues, but it has slowed. Emergent and forested wetland area increased between 1977 and 2000. Sun coffee cultivation appears to have increased slightly. Most of the forests cleared for land development, 55 percent, were young (1-13 yr). Only 13 percent of the developed forest was older (41-55+ yr). However, older forest on rugged karst lands that long ago reforested is vulnerable to land development if it is close to an urban center and unprotected.
Data users should cite the manuscript below, including on any figures, web displays or Internet Map Servers:
Kennaway, T., and Helmer, E.H. 2007. The Forest Types and Ages Cleared for Land Development in Puerto Rico. GIScience and Remote Sensing 44(4):356-382.
Supplemental_Information:
The International Institute of Tropical Forestry provided funding for this work. Other contributors included the Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands (CEMML) of Colorado State University.
Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Range_of_Dates/Times:
Beginning_Date: 1991
Ending_Date: 1992
Currentness_Reference: ground condition
Status:
Progress: Complete
Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: None planned
Spatial_Domain:
Bounding_Coordinates:
West_Bounding_Coordinate: -67.330044
East_Bounding_Coordinate: -64.989305
North_Bounding_Coordinate: 18.561209
South_Bounding_Coordinate: 17.862972
Keywords:
Theme:
Theme_Keyword: land cover
Theme_Keyword: land use
Theme_Keyword: forest formation
Theme_Keyword: forest type
Theme_Keyword: forest conservation
Theme_Keyword: karst
Theme_Keyword: forest age
Theme_Keyword: mangroves
Theme_Keyword: cloud forest
Theme_Keyword: serpentine
Place:
Place_Keyword: Puerto Rico
Place_Keyword: Vieques
Place_Keyword: Culebra
Place_Keyword: Icacos
Place_Keyword: Caribbean
Place_Keyword: Greater Antilles
Temporal:
Temporal_Keyword: 1991
Temporal_Keyword: 1992
Access_Constraints:
No access constraints after peer review is completed. Contact E. Helmer for updates on the peer review process.
Use_Constraints:
Important notes:
1. Open drought deciduous woodlands, with 25 to 60% woody vegetation cover, are grouped with pasture in the version of this map that is generalized to land cover.
2. Low density urban lands are included with the Urban class and may have as little as 10-15% urban/built-up lands.
3. Errors from minor misregristration between the maps from 1991-2000 will cause some error in analyses of change.
4. We recommend using urban change data from Helmer and Ruefenacht (2005) to estimate urban change from 1991-2000.
Point_of_Contact:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Person_Primary:
Contact_Person: E. H. Helmer
Contact_Organization:
International Institute of Tropical Forestry, USDA Forest Service
Data users should cite the data, including on any maps, web displays or Internet Map Servers that use the data, by referencing the following manuscript (which also cites sources for original data from 1951 and 1977): Kennaway, T., and Helmer, E.H. 2007. The Forest Types and Ages Cleared for Land Development in Puerto Rico. GIScience and Remote Sensing 44(4):356-382.
Native_Data_Set_Environment:
Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.2.6.1500
Cross_Reference:
Citation_Information:
Publication_Date: Summer, 2007
Title:
Kennaway, T., and Helmer, E.H. 2007. Quantifying the Forest Types and Ages Cleared for Land Development in Puerto Rico. Manuscript in Review.
Under no circumstances shall the USDA Forest Service, the International Institute of Tropical Forestry or Colorado State University be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from the use, misuse, or inability to use this software, even if IITF or CSU have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
