LAND-USE AND LANDSCAPE CHANGE IN THE COLORADO MOUNTAINS .1. THEORY, SCALE, AND PATTERN

Residential and commercial land development quickened during the 1990s throughout the U.S. Rocky Mountains, especially in Colorado, increasi ng the pace and extent of regional land use and landscape change. Unli ke previous booms in mining, cattle, or energy, the current developmen t wave is driven by growth in the secondary and tertiary economies-ser vices, recreation, and information businesses-instead of commodity pro duction. The result is sprawling land-use conversion, mostly from agri cultural to residential, in even the most rural areas. This developmen t pattern is examined in light of mountain and rural land-use theory, and its effects are evaluated at three scales in the Colorado mountain s-regional, landscape, and site. The social and ecological impacts cit ed in previous rural development literature are evident, but also docu mented are landscape effects associated with the particular affluence of Colorado mountain development and the emergence of far-reaching rur al sprawl and gentrification. Current development tends more than in t he past to fragment land ownership, steepen land-use gradients at publ ic/private boundaries, and increase human presence and disturbance in the urban/wildland interface. The paper concludes with suggestions for planning focused at the landscape scale.