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Land Use Primer:

How much of the CARA Region is developed, in agriculture, forested, etc.?

The CARA webpage provides information on the following Land Cover categories for the CARA Region:

Developed Land
Barren
Forest Land
Agricultural Land
Wetlands.

The information on Land Cover is from the 1992 National Land Cover Database. Land Cover can at the county level be seen at http://www.cara.psu.edu/land/landcover_local.asp

Table 1. Land Cover at the State Level in The CARA Region
(Numbers in squared miles)

State

Total Area (Sq Miles)**

Developed

Barren

Forest Land

Agricultural Land

Wetlands

Connecticut

4,817

827

31

2,929

667

363

District of Columbia

61.39

43

0.06

13

5

0.33

Delaware

1,936

143

11

510

947

325

Massachusetts

7,722

1,373

88

4,855

738

668

Maryland

9,676

770

116

4,068

3,863

859

New Jersey

7,358

1,518

58

3,366

1,546

870

New York

46,910

2,589

93

30,451

12,369

1,408

Pennsylvania

44,764

1,863

484

29,506

12,532

379

Rhode Island

6,665

175

7

6,307

94

82

Virginia

39,360

1,389

582

26,127

9,689

1,573

Total CARA Region

169,269

10,690

1,470

108,132

42,450

6,527

 ** Total area numbers exclude open waters.

 

Table 2 Land Cover at the State Level in The CARA Region
(Percentage)

State

Water

Developed

Barren

Forest Land

Agricultural Land

Wetlands

Connecticut

3

17

0.5

59

13

7

District of Columbia

10

63

0

19

8

0

Delaware

4

7

1

25

47

16

Massachusetts

6

17

1

60

9

8

Maryland

7

7

1

39

37

8

New Jersey

5

19

1

43

20

11

New York

4

5

0

62

25

3

Pennsylvania

1

4

1

65

28

1

Rhode Island

5

17

1

61

9

8

Virginia

3

3

1

65

24

4

Total CARA Region

3

6

1

61

25

4

 

Next: What drives land use-land cover change?