Changing Midwest Assessment: Land Cover, Natural Resources, and People

Landscape change has emerged as one of the great issues of the day among scientists, land managers, elected officials and the public as it affects virtually all aspects of the biophysical and social landscape and impacts people from all walks of life. It is widely accepted at landscape change is the result of complex interactions between biological, physical, social and economic factors and that change is not random, however a comprehensive study that documents the spatial distribution of change at the landscape scale has not been attempted, and the key drivers and consequence of change are not well understood.