Land use in the Lake States region: an analysis of past trends and projections of future changes.

This paper presents the historic trends and future projections of forest, f arm, and urban land uses for the Lake States of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wi sconsin. Since the 1950s, forest and farm land have been decreasing, and ur ban and other land uses have been increasing throughout the Lake States. Fo rest, crop, and pasture land have decreased in the region by 3.2, 5.4, and 4.0 million acres, respectively, whereas urban and other land uses have inc reased by 2.1 and 10.3 million acres, respectively. These decreases and inc reases were most pronounced during the 1950s and 1980s. Land rents and land quality were used to make projections of the distribution of Wisconsin's f uture land uses. In Michigan and Minnesota, forest and farm land use projec tions were based on the extrapolation of historic trends, and urban land us e projections were adopted from Wisconsin's econometric projections; land r ents and land quality were not used for all projections because of insuffic ient data. The projections of land uses through 2050 are consistent with hi storic trends-forest and agricultural lands will decline, and urban and oth er land uses will increase. Timberland is projected to be reduced by 13 per cent in Wisconsin, 11 percent in Michigan, and 10 percent in Minnesota.