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Land Cover

Having an accurate picture of an area’s landscape and understanding how that landscape is changing is important information for any planning effort. Communities can evaluate how their land use management efforts are working and can also use information on trends to aid future planning initiatives. While the land cover data shows each land cover class, changes in land cover show how each type of land cover class changed over time. More development means more impervious surfaces, which translates into a greater risk for increased flooding and decreased water quality. Low density and open space development can impact water quality negatively, though usually to a lesser degree than with higher density development.

Data Notes
Definition	Land Cover: Data on how much of a region is covered by built-areas, forests, wetlands, impervious surfaces, agriculture, and other land and water types. Water types include wetlands or open water. Land cover can be determined by analyzing satellite and aerial imagery.
Data Source	Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium
Last Updated	April 2024