INTEGRATING DEMOGRAPHIC AND LANDSAT (TM) DATA AT A WATERSHED SCALE

• Published in: Journal of the American Water Resources Association Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 215 - 228
• Main Authors: Kuczenski, Tracy K, Field, Donald R., Voss, Paul R., Radeloff, Volker C., Hagen, Alice E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-02-2000; American Water Resources Association
• Subjects: Applied geophysics; Areal geology. Maps; demography; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Ecology; Exact sciences and technology; Geographic Information Systems; Geologic maps, cartography; housing density; Hydrology. Hydrogeology; Internal geophysics; land cover classification; landscape ecology; Remote sensing; resource management; social analysis; Social aspects; USA, Wisconsin, Kickapoo Watershed; Vegetation; Water resources; watershed; United States; Wisconsin; USA, Wisconsin, Kickapoo Watershed; impact statements; Thematic Mapper; density; land cover maps; Space remote sensing; Landsat; geographic information systems; classification; North America; spatial distribution; drainage basins; ecology; watersheds; geography; buildings; water resource management; communities
• ISSN: 1093-474X; 1752-1688
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2000.tb04261.x

Recurrent calls for integrated resource management urge that an understanding of human activities and populations be incorporated into natural resource research, management, and protection efforts. In this paper, we hypothesize that watersheds can be a valuable geography for organizing an inquiry into the relationship between humans and the environment, and we present a framework for conducting such efforts. The framework is grounded in the emerging field of landscape ecology and incorporates demographic theory and data. Demography has been advanced by technological capabilities associated with the 1990 Census. Employing Geographic Information System (GIS) tools, we couple Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) land cover data with census-derived housing density data to demonstrate the operation of our framework and its utility for better understanding human-landscape interactions. In our investigation of the Kickapoo Watershed and two sub-watersheds, located in southwestern Wisconsin, we identify relationships between landscape composition and the distribution and social structure of human populations. Our findings offer insight into the interplay between people and biophysical systems.