Trends in afforestation in southern Missouri

Abstract: Past studies of forest disturbance traditionally have focused on biomass loss, e.g., blowdown in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, gypsy moth infestation, the impacts of Hurricanes Hugo and Katrina. Using FIA data and satellite imagery, this study examined a region of the country that is simultaneously experiencing biomass loss due to oak decline and biomass gain from afforestation of agricultural lands by eastern redcedar, following change to nonagricultural land use. This paper examines the increase in eastern redcedar in southwestern Missouri between 1985 and 2007. After converting stacks of Landsat imagery to delineations of forest and nonforest categories, we looked at changes between succeeding images. We observed a small increase in forest land area, particularly in the first 10 years of the analysis. Image-based estimates of forest land area did not differ significantly from estimates derived from FIA sample plot data. Differences in definition of forest may explain any real variations in the estimates