New Jersey Landscape Change Research

Building on existing research, like the landscape change research project at Rutgers' Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis, the research program team is participating in a larger national trend that was the focus of a recent NSF workshop. While in many cases landscape change is a natural process, human land use change is now the single most important factor influencing New Jersey's environment.

These changes are largely the result of the urbanization and its attendant residential, commercial, transportation and to a lesser extent industrial development. While some level of new development is needed to keep up with New Jersey's expanding population, the ramifications of urban growth and sprawl on New Jersey's agriculture, natural resources and overall environment are many fold. As the leading academic institution dedicated to bettering our understanding of our state's environment, it is appropriate that Cook College and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES) take on a leadership role in providing the New Jersey government and citizens up-to-date information on changing land use patterns, the implications of urban growth on the state's resources and develop innovative planning tools to minimize the adverse impacts of urban growth.