LAND-USE AND LANDSCAPE CHANGE IN THE COLORADO MOUNTAINS .2. A CASE-STUDY OF THE EAST RIVER VALLEY

Rural land in the U.S. Rocky Mountains is being subdivided and develop ed for residential and commercial use at an unprecedented rate. In the East River Valley, Colorado, land ownership parcel size began to decl ine sometime during the last two decades after increasing for over a c entury-since the first European settlement. Roughly 20% of the private land in the valley has been divided into parcels smaller than about 4 5 acres (18 ha), parcels that cannot economically support agriculture. Development in the valley has caused significant land-cover fragmenta tion, especially in aspen, meadow mixed conifer, and sagebrush cover t ypes. Increased rates of house construction, from 3% per year during 1 964-1990 to 8% per year from 1990 to 1994, and the conspicuousness of new roads and houses on the valley slopes, have enhanced local percept ion of rapid landscape change. Residents' concern over land use especi ally focuses on the creation of ''ranchettes''-large-lot residential a reas carved out of former cattle ranches-and on the community changes associated with population growth, absentee home ownership, and class distinctions between recent immigrants and long-time residents. This p aper documents these changes in the ecological and social landscape of this rapidly developing mountain valley using landscape metrics and i nterviews of key residents.