Legacies of urbanization and suburbanization on forest patch distribution, ownership, and use: Insights from Baltimore, Maryland

Abstract

Comprehensive high resolution land cover and parcel data provide new abilities to map and identify discrete forest patches across different ownerships and land uses, from urban to rural settings. Mapping of forest patches can inform forest management and protection, to maintain ecological benefits for diverse populations. We use parcel data in combination with high resolution land cover to map and characterize 20,146 unique forest patches covering 581.9 km² across urban Baltimore City and suburban and rural portions of Baltimore County. Typical of the eastern United States, initial urban development in this region gave rise to suburban expansion during the 20th century. We found size and number of forest patches, as well as the proportion of forest spanning multiple parcels, all increased when moving outward from urban to rural areas. The number of forest patches went from nearly 2000 in Baltimore City (9.7 % of land area) to 7700 forest patches within suburban Baltimore County, within the urban growth boundary (17.9 % of land area), to nearly 10,500 in the rural portion of Baltimore County (44.7 % of land area). However, ownership type and land use of forest patches, as derived from parcel data, was unique for each region: public ownership was more common within the city, and private ownership, with residential and agricultural land use, more common in suburban and rural Baltimore County, respectively. For all of the regions we considered, most of the forest area and the larger forest patches were distributed across numerous parcels and many types of ownership and land use. For each of these regions, working across parcel boundaries has the potential to expand forest conservation and management, but will involve a range of owners and land use types, including public parks, residential areas, and farmland, from urban to rural settings.