Mankind is actively changing the landscape to make it more accessible, productive or fits the needs of our society in other ways. The change in land use in the Edmonton area, Alberta, between 1966 and 1976 has been assessed in this lab using data from Canadian Land Use Monitoring Program (CLUMP).

The quantify cation of changes in between 13 land use classes led to following results: “Urban built-up areas”and “productive woodlands” increased in extent within the decade at the expense of “cropland” and the less altered land uses “unimproved pasture and range land”and “non-productive woodland”. Urban sprawl has been suggested to be of concern in landscape planning, as many settlements are located on or adjacent to prime cropland. In addition, the extensive loss of natural or less adapted land use types has been identified. Problematic issues of habitat loss and deterioration of ecosystem services could arise due to these invasive changes of the landscape. Policy makers should consider the discussed economic and ecologic benefits when deciding on land use management.

The map below highlights a region south of Edmonton where the high conversion of extensively used pasture and range land into an urban built-up and outdoor recreation area. Unimproved pastures are one of the most biodiverse temperate ecosystems, so that the loss of this habitat could have adverse impacts on wildlife in the area.