Land Use Change

The pace and scale of growth and land use change in the Upstate over the last few decades is easy to see. New houses, commercial developments, and industrial facilities are everywhere, and development is spreading even to the most rural corners of the region. But where exactly is growth occurring, and exactly how much growth has the region experienced? Though the general trend is clear, the specifics are quite difficult to quantify. Given the negative impacts that development can have on our rivers and lakes, good answers to these questions are essential to effective water resources management.

That’s why the Consortium has invested a substantial amount of time and resources over the last two years in an in-depth analysis of satellite imagery of an eight-county region in the Upstate from 1985 to 2000. Using a variety of filtering and classification techniques, we determined what portion of the landscape was developed and what portion was rural in each of four images. The 1985 and the 2000 images are shown here. Click on each image to see a higher-resolution version.

Further analysis by researchers found that tree cover had decreased in all eight of the study counties for a total of more than 318,061 acres of forest lost to development and other land-uses -- equal to an average of 58 acres per day across the entire region. Greenville and Spartanburg counties account for almost half the loss as each county is loosing an average of 14 acres per day. To read more about this research, click here.

Forests provide multiple benefits to society, including reduced runoff, absorption of pollutants, improved air quality, wildlife habitat and higher property values. Such significant losses in tree cover in such a short time are a contributing factor to air and water-quality issues in the Upstate at this time.

The land-use change maps and data on forest and urban land cover over the past 15 years forms the basis for a series of year-by-year growth projections that are currently in the final stages of analysis. These projections will illustrate in graphic form the likely extent and pattern of development in the Upstate over the next thirty years, and will be available online soon. In addition, we will soon have a report on our website that analyzes the implications of land use change for water quality in the Upstate. Check back regularly for updates!