RUNNING HEADER: LAND USES IN NEW JERSEY

Land Uses in New Jersey

Nicole Schielzo
Environmental Issues
ENVL 4300
Stockton University
Spring 2016

LAND USES IN NEW JERSEY

Table of Contents
I.
II.

Page Number

Abstract..3
Introduction3-4

III.

Objectives.. 4

IV.

Results4-14

V.

Discussion..14-18

VI.

Conclusion.17

VII.

References.18

VIII.

Appendices18-19

LAND USES IN NEW JERSEY

Abstract
During this project five counties and one town, in New Jersey were analyzed, using six
categories developed by the NJDEP to classify land use/ land cover. The six categories includeagriculture, barren land, forest, urban, water, and wetlands. To complete this project, a mapping
program, ArcGIS, was used to analyze the changes in land use/ land cover between 1986 and
2012 (sometime 1995 and 2012.) All six categories plus three more fine-tuned visual
analyzations were made in Bergen County, concluding that out of the counties studied Bergen
County had the most changes in land use/land cover. Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, and
Ocean were analyzed and it was concluded that urban and forest land cover/ land use were the
two categories that had the most change. It was concluded that New Jersey was urbanizing and
cutting down large sums of trees over the 26 year period.

Introduction
Monitoring the ways that land is being utilized and what changes are being made to the
land should be important to every citizen. The way land is being used is one of the easiest ways
to see environmental use and change through time. Be able to interrupt land use trends connects
society and environmental processes on local and global levels. (USGS) Today, the rates that
land is being changed or altered to fit the needs of humans are alarming and have negative
effects on the environment. Land use/ Land cover is categorized by the New Jersey Department
of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) under six categories - urban land, agriculture, forest,
wetlands, water, and barren land, they are then further defined using subcategories.
According the NJDEP (2010) the six categories are as follows. Urban land includes
most of what normally would be considered developed land. Residential areas, commercial
areas, services and institutions, industrial areas, and those developed for transportation and
utilities are the primary land uses. Barren land is characterized by a general lack of any
significant vegetative cover. Included are both naturally occurring barren areas, such as beaches
and rock outcrops, as well as artificially created barren areas, where vegetation has been
artificially removed. Cleared but undeveloped urban lands, transitional areas, mines, dumps and
quarries. Agricultural land includes all land areas associated with agricultural production. The
greatest amount of these lands would be areas used in the active cultivation of crops, both row
and field crops. Forest land is all upland areas covered by woody vegetation. The vegetation
may be primarily deciduous, coniferous or a mixture of both, and include scrub/shrub and brush
areas as well as mature tree stands of various densities. Land that is used by water is classified
as both tidal and non-tidal open water bodies of the state. Freshwater lakes, ponds, and
reservoirs, and salt and brackish water ponds and enclosed tidal bays. Wetlands is described as
areas that exist where the water table is at, near or even above the soil surface for significant
time periods of the year. The soil is, therefore, generally saturated, and only plant types capable
of growing under saturated conditions are found.
Changes in land use could affect ecosystems and their services to wildlife and humans.
Despite the original natural land type that is in that area, land use changes have positive and

LAND USES IN NEW JERSEY

negative effects. Changes in land use could signify urban development, industrial development,
forest or wetland restoration projects, clear cutting for pasture lands and many more. A change to
the surface of land, can lead to climate change, biodiversity loss and the pollution of water, soils
and air.(Ellis, 2013) The most significant maps were generated within this report and then
analyzed.
Objectives
The objective of this lab to become familiar and be able to use ArcGIS to download and
interpret land use and land cover data. To complete the objectives for this lab land use maps and
data was down loaded from an online data source within ArcGIS. There are three parts to
complete for this lab. One, download land use/ land cover data for the county you reside in for
1986, 2002, and 2012. Within these data sheets is data for 1995/96 and 2007. Use this data to
identify and compare the land use/land cover changes as well as changes in residential,
commercial/service areas, and industrial throughout the sample time. Analyze the data and be
able to explain the significant changes and why they might be occurring. Two, gather data for 3
other counties (all others are extra) in New Jersey and be able to interpret the land use change
data in those counties by analyzing the 6 land use categories from the NJDEP. Part 3 requires
using the New Jersey geographic information network to search and download digital orthoquads
for your neighborhood in order to be able to see the changes in land use in your immediate area.

Results

Figure 1 above shows the differences in wetlands land use growth throughout 1986, 1995, 2002, 2007,
and 2012 in Bergen County. The data from each year is represented by a different color.

LAND USES IN NEW JERSEY

Figure 2 above shows the differences in water land use growth throughout 1986, 1995, 2002, 2007, and
2012 in Bergen County. The data from each year is represented by a different color.

Figure 3 above shows the differences in urban land use growth throughout 1986, 1995, 2002, 2007, and
2012 in Bergen County. The data from each year is represented by a different color.

LAND USES IN NEW JERSEY

Figure 4 above shows the differences in forest land use growth throughout 1986, 1995, 2002, 2007, and
2012 in Bergen County. The data from each year is represented by a different color.

Figure 5 above shows the differences in agriculture land use growth throughout 1986, 1995, 2002, 2007,
and 2012 in Bergen County. The data from each year is represented by a different color.

LAND USES IN NEW JERSEY

Figure 6 above shows the differences in barren land, land use growth throughout 1986, 1995, 2002,
2007, and 2012 in Bergen County. The data from each year is represented by a different color.

Figure 7 above shows the differences in residential land use growth in 1986 and 2012 in Bergen County.
The data from each year is represented by a different color.

LAND USES IN NEW JERSEY

Figure 8 above shows the differences in industrial land use in 1986 and 2012 in Bergen County. The data
from each year is represented by a different color.

Figure 9 above shows the differences in commercial/service land use in 1986 and 2012 in Bergen
County. The data from each year is represented by a different color.

LAND USES IN NEW JERSEY

Figure 10 above shows the differences in forest land use in 1986 and 2012 in Ocean County. The
data from each year is represented by a different color.

Figure 11 above shows the differences in urban land use in 1986 and 2012 in Ocean County. The
data from each year is represented by a different color.

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Figure 12 above shows the differences in forest land use in 1995 and 2012 in Burlington County.
The data from each year is represented by a different color.

Figure 13 above shows the differences in urban land use in 1995 and 2012 in Burlington County.
The data from each year is represented by a different color.

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Figure 14 above shows the differences in forest land use in 1986 and 2012 in Monmouth County. The
data from each year is represented by a different color.

Figure 15 above shows the differences in urban land use in 1986 and 2012 in Monmouth County. The
data from each year is represented by a different color.

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Figure 16 above shows the differences in forest land use in 1986 and 2012 in Atlantic County.
The data from each year is represented by a different color.

Figure 17 above shows the differences in urban land use in 1986 and 2012 in Atlantic County. The data
from each year is represented by a different color.

LAND USES IN NEW JERSEY

Figure 18. (Above) Is the digital orthoquad for my neighborhood in Bergenfield, NJ in 1995.

Figure 19. (Above) Is the digital orthoquad for my neighborhood in Bergenfield, NJ in 2002

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LAND USES IN NEW JERSEY

Figure 20. (Above) Is the digital orthoquad for my neighborhood in Bergenfield, NJ in 2007.

Figure 21. (Above) is the digital orthoquad for my neighborhood in Bergenfield. NJ in 2012.

Discussion
Bergen County has had the highest land use changes between 1986 and 2012 in all of the
counties that were study. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2015) there were 905,117 people
in 2010 in Bergen County which increased to 933,572 people in 2014. This data supports that
there has been a significant growth in population. Within in Bergen County there is 233.01

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square miles of land and within that there are 3,884.5 people per square mile in 2010. In respect
to New Jersey as a whole there are 1,195.5 people per square mile.
Figure 1 shows the changes made to wetlands within Bergen County. The wetlands over
time decrease substantially, beginning in 1986 at 11,891 acres to in 2012 having 9,161 acres
totaling to a decrease of 2,730 acres county wide. Between 1986 and 2007 the most amount of
change was seen when analyzing the data.
Figure 2 shows the changes made to land use within the water category. Water in Bergen
County has the largest growth out of all of the six categories. Bergen County started in 1986 with
4,374 acres of land used for water. Over time more land was transformed and then re-evaluated
to be within the water category. In 2012, there was 19,018 acres of land used for or by water.
This equates to an increase total of 14,644 acres of land used for water within Bergen County.
This is significant because Bergen County is known to be one of the most populated counties in
New Jersey, which tends to restrict land being used for water.
Figure 3 shows urban development within Bergen County. Bergen County is densely
populated because of its proximity to New York City. In 1986, there was 110,649 acres of land
being used under the urban category. In 2012 there was 114,499 acres totally an increase of
3,850 acres. This is significant because like stated above, the county is densely populated, and
urbanization negatively impacts the environment.
Figure 4 shows the land that is classified under the forest category. Forest are not
common to see throughout Bergen County because it is so densely populated. Most of the forest,
as you can see in Figure 4 is at the top corners of the county, which suggests that they are forests
possibly protected in New York State or in Passaic County. In 1986 there was 26,957 acres of
forest land, in 2012 there was 32,996 acres. This equals an increase of 6,039 acres throughout the
county.
Figure 5 shows the decrease in agriculture within Bergen County. In 1986, there was 702
acres of agriculture, then in 2012 there was 440 acres. This totals a decrease of 262 acres. This
could also be tied to population growth.
Figure 6 shows the increase in Barren land between 1986 and 2012. There was a total
increase of 652 acres to barren land between 1986 and 2012. This is significant because barren
land is a category that defines lands that are not helping to mitigate any problems, which
subsequently adds problems.
Figure 7 shows the residential land use within Bergen County between 1986 and 2012.
The residential data was analyzed for this part because of the counties dense population. There
was a total increase of 2,840 acres of residential land. Proving that the population in Bergen
County is growing.
Figure 8 shows the decrease in land used for industry. There was a total decrease of 2,723
acres. This is slightly surprising, because the industry that is in Bergen County is normally
corporations that privately own the land, and dont normally sell or more their business because
of the proximately to New York City.

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Figure 9 shows the small increase in commercial land use. There was an increase of 460
acres of commercial land in Bergen County between 1986 and 2012. Commercial land use was
analyzed because the increase has been focused around major roadways, which then brings more
people into the county because of the ease of accessibility to business.
I chose Monmouth, Atlantic, Burlington, and Ocean Counties to complete the second part
of this lab. Before I analyzed the maps from the 3 other counties, I reviewed the charts that were
provided with data from 2002 and 2007. From this data I gathered that the biggest changes in
land use/land cover were forest and urban land use and that I should focus mainly on those
categories.
Figure 10 shows the decrease in forest cover in Ocean County between 1986 and 2012.
There was a total decrease of 2,119 acres of forest. This is significant because as you will see in
the discussion for figure 11, there was an increase in urban land cover in Ocean County during
this study time.
Figure 11 shows the increase in urban land in Ocean County. There was a total increase
of 34,786 acres of urban land. Urban land had the most growth out of all of the categories, which
could suggest that the land that was once forest land could have been changes to urban land.
According to the USCB (2015) there was a population size of 576,567 in 2010 which increased
to 586,301 people between 2010 and 2014.
Figure 12 shows the change in forest land in Burlington County between 1995 and 2012.
There was an increase in forest land cover of 10, 874 acres. This is significant because as you
will see in figure 13 there forest land increased in the lower part of the county but the urban land
cover increased in the upper part of the county.
Figure 13 show the increase in urban land use in Burlington County between 1995 and
2012. Urban land increased to total 20,241 acres in 2012. This is significant because urban and
forest land use/cover were the greatest increases among the categories, which suggests that a
large part of Burlington County is forest and possibly protected land. Also, the county stretches
across the state, and its southeast corner reaches tidal estuaries leading to southern New Jersey's
Great Bay, which separates the county from the Atlantic Ocean. (Wikipedia 2016) this is
important to note that Burlington County is very close to Philadelphia, which is where many of
their residents might commute to for work.
Figure 14 shows the decrease in forest land cover in Monmouth County between 1986
and 2012. There was a total decrease of 4,744 acres within the county.
Figure 15 shows the significant increase in urban land in Monmouth County between
1986 and 2012. There was a total increase of 34,385 acres. The distribution of urbanization
correlates directly with the land that is not covered by trees or has any kind of small forest within
a close proximately. Monmouth County is the northernmost county along the Jersey Shore
which could account for the increased urbanization in the county to fulfill the need of summer
time house renters. (Wikipedia 2016)

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LAND USES IN NEW JERSEY

Figure 16 shows the significant decrease in forest cover within Atlantic County between
1986 and 2012. There was a total decrease of 11,129 acres. This is significant because Atlantic
County has areas that are within the protection or preservation areas within the Pine Barrens. We
could assume that at an average rate through the 26 year time period of this study, 428 acres of
forest were taken each year.
Figure 17 shows the massive increase in urban land use in Atlantic County between 1986
and 2012. There was a total increase of 16,603 acres of urban land developed. This is significant
because Stockton University and Atlantic City is within Atlantic County which bring thousands
or more people to the area, sometime for employment or sometimes for 4 years of temporary
housing relatively close to Stockton.
A Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle (DOQ) is a good tool to use when viewing photos of
local areas because it is an aerial photograph in which the image displacement caused by terrain
relief and camera tilt has been removed.(USGS 2015)
Figure 18 is the DOQ for my neighborhood in Bergenfield, NJ in 1995. Figure 19 is the
DOQ for my neighborhood in Bergenfield, NJ in 2002.Figure 20 is the DOQ for my
neighborhood in Bergenfield, NJ in 2007.Figure 21 is the digital orthoquad for my neighborhood
in Bergenfield. NJ in 2012. These photos show a constructed neighborhood with little room to
expand.

Conclusion
In general within New Jersey there has been general significant change within the urban
and forest categories. There is a trend of increasing urbanization within the study counties, which
could be assumed that the trend is state-wide. Forest cover has seen an almost even distribution
of decreases and increases in forest in reference to counties increasing or decreasing.
Bergen County, is the increasing in most categories throughout this study with minor
decreases in agriculture and wetlands. It could be assumed that the wetlands are being work over
into urban areas, so the possibly over populated county can adequately house the residents.
Bergenfield is a well-established and compact town, with little amount of funds to try to
expand or embellish the town. Bergenfield has many residents moving in and out pretty
constantly because of the changing dynamics of the town.
In conclusion, there is high population growth rates in New Jersey that the residents are
trying to move forward with. Much of the land that could and would be protected in New Jersey
is or was protected with an increase in population size in mind.

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References
Ellis, Erle. 2013. Land-use and land-cover change. The Encyclopedia of Earth.

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. 2010. NJDEP Land Use/Land Cover Level
I Data Analysis, 2002-2007.
New Jersey Geographic Information Network. 2015. Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle.
Pinelands Preservation Alliance. 2004. New Jersey Pine Barrens.
United States Census Bureau (USCB). 2015. Bergen County QuickFacts.
United States Geological Survey. Web. Ecosystem FAQs- Why is studying land use change
important?
Wikipedia. 2016. Burlington County, New Jersey
Wikipedia. 2016. Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Appendices

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