North Central Research Station - The Changing Midwest Assessment

Landscape Change Percent Change to Forest Percent Change to Urban Hotspots of Change	Area of Forest Tree Volume on Timberland Tree Size Class Forest Ownership Oak Decline Oak Mortality
Population Density Housing Density Seasonal Housing Density Income from Recreation Income from Wood Products Road Density	Deer Harvest: Total Deer Harvest: Antlered Relative Abundance of Birds Insect Defoliators & Exotics

As the saying goes, "The only thing that is constant is change." This is certainly true of the 7 Midwestern States that make up the North Central Region of the USDA Forest Service. In fact, virtually all aspects of the physical and social landscapes of the Region are characterized by change.

The purpose of this site is to describe the spatial distribution, direction and intensity of the changes that have occurred on the biophysical and social landscapes of the Region over the past two decades. Specifically, we have mapped change in Land Cover, Forest Characteristics, Plants and Animals, and Human Demographics. The Land Cover section describes changes in the amount and distribution of the major land cover types in the Region (i.e., Agriculture, Forestland, and Urban). The Forest Characteristics section provides a comprehensive account of change in Forests by Forest Type Group, including change in Area, Volume, Structure, Composition, and Ownership. The Plants and Animals section describes change in the relative abundance of species of special concern. And the Human Demographics section describes change in population, housing and seasonal housing density, and personal income.

Currently, an interdisciplinary team of scientists from the North Central Research Station and collaborating universities is working to identify the ecological, economic, and social drivers and consequences of change.

Ultimately, our goal is to develop interactive, spatially explicit, web-based models that the public and public officials can use to visualize changes that are likely in the future given a range of alternative ecological, economic, and social scenarios.

NCRS - The Changing Midwest Assessment

Coming Soon