LAND USE AND LANDSCAPE CHANGE IN THE COLORADO MOUNTAINS I: THEORY, SCALE, AND PATTERN

Residential and commercial land development quickened during the 1990s throughout the U.S. Rocky Mountains, especially in Colorado, increasing the pace and extent of regional land use and landscape change. Unlike previous booms in mining, cattle, or energy, the current development wave is driven by growth in the secondary and tertiary economies--services, recreation, and information businesses-instead of commodity production. The result is sprawling land-use conversion, mostly from agricultural to residential, in even the most rural areas. This development pattern is examined in light of mountain and rural land-use theory, and its effects are evaluated at three scales in the Colorado mountains-regional, landscape, and site. The social and ecological impacts cited in previous rural development literature are evident, but also documented are landscape effects associated with the particular affluence of Colorado mountain development and the emergence of far-reaching rural sprawl and gentrification. Current development tends more than in the past to fragment land ownership, steepen land-use gradients at public/private boundaries, and increase human presence and disturbance in the urban/wildland interface. The paper concludes with suggestions for planning focused at the landscape scale.

[1]  J. H. V. Thunen,et al.  Von Thunen's isolated state , 1967 .

[2]  Brian J. L. Berry,et al.  Geography of Market Centers and Retail Distribution , 1967 .

[3]  J. Birch.  Rural land use: a central theme in geography. , 1968 .

[4]  Lyndhurst Collins,et al.  Spatial Organization: The Geographer's View of the World , 1972 .

[5]  C. B. Hunt.  Natural regions of the United States and Canada , 1973 .

[6]  D. W. Meinig,et al.  The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes , 1979 .

[7]  J. Holmes,et al.  Settlement systems in sparsely populated regions, the United States and Australia , 1981 .

[8]  McMillen Db,et al.  Location-specific capital and destination selection among migrants to nonmetropolitan areas , 1983 .

[9]  M. Moseley.  Conflict and Change in the Countryside , 1984 .

[10]  N. Allan.  ACCESSIBILITY AND ALTITUDINAL ZONATION MODELS OF MOUNTAINS , 1986 .

[11]  H. Uhlig.  Do Accessibility Models Make Altitudinal Zonation Models Obsolete , 1986 .

[12]  D. Greenland.  Discussion: Comments on "Accessibility and Altitudinal Zonation Models of Mountains" , 1986 .

[13]  P. Moser,et al.  Reflections on the MAB-6 Obergurgl Project and tourism in an Alpine environment. , 1986 .

[14]  D. Getz.  Travel, tourism, and hospitality research: A handbook for managers and researchers , 1987 .

[15]  M. Price.  TOURISM AND FORESTRY IN THE SWISS ALPS: PARASITISM OR SYMBIOSIS? , 1987 .

[16]  P. Jobes.  Nominalism, realism and planning in a changing community , 1988 .

[17]  B. Turner.  The Earth as Transformed by Human Action , 1988 .

[18]  H. Kariel,et al.  Tourist developments in the Kananaskis Valley area, Alberta, Canada, and the impact of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. , 1988 .

[19]  Aharon Kellerman,et al.  Agricultural Location Theory, 2: Relaxation of Assumptions and Applications , 1989 .

[20]  S. Dorward.  Design for Mountain Communities: A Landscape and Architectural Guide , 1989 .

[21]  H. Kariel.  Socio-cultural impacts of tourism in the Austrian Alps. , 1989 .

[22]  A. Kellerman.  Agricultural Location Theory 1: Basic Models , 1989 .

[23]  P. Jobes,et al.  Economic and Quality-of-Life Considerations in Urban-Rural Migration. , 1990 .

[24]  K. McHugh,et al.  Seasonal Migration as a Substitute for, or Precursor to, Permanent Migration , 1990, Research on aging.

[25]  T. Power.  Ecosystem Preservation and the Economy in the Greater Yellowstone Area , 1991 .

[26]  Marybeth Buechner,et al.  Park Protection and Public Roads , 1992 .

[27]  G. Rudzitis,et al.  Multinomial logistic models explaining income changes of migrants to high-amenity counties. , 1992, The Review of regional studies.

[28]  R. Rasker.  Rural development, conservation, and public policy in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem , 1993 .

[29]  Patricia Gober,et al.  Job-rich but housing-poor: the dilemma of a western amenity town , 1993 .

[30]  G. Rudzitis.  NONMETROPOLITAN GEOGRAPHY: MIGRATION, SENSE OF PLACE, AND THE AMERICAN WEST , 1993 .

[31]  G. Halseth.  Communities within communities: Changing ‘residential’ areas at Cultus Lake, British Columbia , 1993 .

[32]  Population and social characteristics in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem , 1993 .

[33]  Derric T Turner,et al.  Toward a Definition of Sustainable Development in the Yampa Valley of Colorado , 1993 .

[34]  A. Nelson,et al.  The new 'burbs: the exurbs and their implications for planning policy , 1994 .

[35]  Randall G. Arendt,et al.  Rural By Design , 1994 .

[36]  R. Rasker,et al.  Footloose entrepreneurs: pioneers of the new west? , 1994 .

[37]  Martin F. Price,et al.  Mountain Environments and Geographic Information Systems , 1995 .

[38]  B. Turner,et al.  Changes in land use and land cover: a global perspective , 1995 .

[39]  G. Halseth,et al.  Cottagers in an Urban Field , 1995 .

[40]  Kevin S. Blake,et al.  The Mountainous West: Explorations in Historical Geography , 1996 .