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Land Use.
Citation:
Monroy, E., A. Kuhn, AND M. Charpentier. Land Use. Chapter 5, Narragansett Bay Estuary Program State of Narragansett Bay and Its Watershed 2017 Technical Report. Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, PROVIDENCE, RI, , 108-134, (2017).
Impact/Purpose:
Land development and some types of land uses in the Narragansett Bay Watershed are stressors on water quality, water quantity, freshwater and estuarine habitats, and human health. The conversion of natural lands such as forests and wetlands to human-dominated uses can exert considerable influence on runoff quality and quantity, and contribute to increases in water pollution. Conversion of natural land cover such as forests to an urban or developed land use can significantly increase non-point source stressors as well as the flow patterns of streams after rain events. Non-point source inputs are influenced by land use alteration (impervious land, agriculture, golf courses, residential and commercial development), riparian buffer degradation, sediment from poorly managed construction sites, storm water runoff, road salt, atmospheric deposition of nitrogen, failing septic systems, and other factors. Human population growth is a fundamental driving force in land conversion. As the population grows, the infrastructure to support homes, transportation, and commerce increases. This chapter presents an analysis of land use change in the Narragansett Bay Watershed, focusing on the changes in area (acreage) of forest lands and urban lands in the decade from 2001 to 2011. The chapter also discusses historical changes in land use and the rates of change since the industrial revolution.
Description:
Land use in the Narragansett Bay Watershed (NBW) is subject to conversion, and these changes influence the Watershed’s hydrologic functions. Changes of natural habitat such as wetlands and forests to urban lands have impacted how water is delivered to rivers and lakes, to groundwater, and ultimately to the Bay. Measuring the total area of land use change over time highlights the conversion of forest and other natural lands to residential, commercial, and industrial developed lands.The declining trend of forest lands in recent decades and historically, points to the dramatic transformation of the NBW's landscape. The losses weaken the protection that forest lands offer for estuarine and inland water quality, habitat, and human health. Land use change analyses show that most of the changes in the decade of 2001 to 2011 occurred in areas draining to the Taunton River and the Ten Mile River. As of 2011, coastal subwatersheds (HUC12) were the most urbanized in the NBW, ranging from 65 to 85 percent urban lands. From 2001 to 2011, forest lands decreased in the Bay’s Watershed by four percent, and urban lands increased by 8.5 percent, encroaching into rural areas. Watersheds (HUC10) of the Taunton River Basin experienced dramatic changes. Forest lands of the Upper-Taunton River and Ten Mile River decreased by nine percent, and the Middle Taunton River had an 18 percent increase in urban lands as forest lands were lost to new developed areas.
