NCRS - The Changing Midwest Assessment

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 collaborataing 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.

Coming Soon

Tree Size Class
Road Density
Attitudes about Sprawl
Song Bird Abundance
Insect Defoliators & Exotics

USDA Forest Service - North Central Research Station
Last Modified: