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Historical Land Use Dynamics in the Highly Degraded Landscape of the Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory

Author

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  • Michael R. Coughlan

    (Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA)

  • Donald R. Nelson

    (Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA)

  • Michael Lonneman

    (Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA)

  • Ashley E. Block

    (Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
    In memoriam.)

Abstract

Processes of land degradation and regeneration display fine scale heterogeneity often intimately linked with land use. Yet, examinations of the relationships between land use and land degradation often lack the resolution necessary to understand how local institutions differentially modulate feedback between individual farmers and the spatially heterogeneous effects of land use on soils. In this paper, we examine an historical example of a transition from agriculture to forest dominated land use (c. 1933–1941) in a highly degraded landscape on the Piedmont of South Carolina. Our landscape-scale approach examines land use and tenure at the level that individuals enact management decisions. We used logistic regression techniques to examine associations between land use, land tenure, topography, and market cost-distance. Our findings suggest that farmer responses to changing market and policy conditions were influenced by topographic characteristics associated with productivity and long-term viability of agricultural land use. Further, although local environmental feedbacks help to explain spatial patterning of land use, property regime and land tenure arrangements also significantly constrained the ability of farmers to adapt to changing socioeconomic and environmental conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael R. Coughlan & Donald R. Nelson & Michael Lonneman & Ashley E. Block, 2017. "Historical Land Use Dynamics in the Highly Degraded Landscape of the Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory," Land, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-20, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:6:y:2017:i:2:p:32-:d:97347
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    2. Ireland, H. A. & Sharpe, C. F. S. & Eargle, D. H., 1939. "Principles of Gully Erosion in the Piedmont of South Carolina," Technical Bulletins 167374, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Alston, Lee J & Libecap, Gary D & Schneider, Robert, 1996. "The Determinants and Impact of Property Rights: Land Titles on the Brazilian Frontier," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 25-61, April.
    4. Marc Jacobson & Joel De Castro & Vianca Aliaga & Julio Romero & MAllison Davis, 1998. "The Role of Tenure Security and Private Time Preference in Neotropical Deforestation," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 74(2), pages 162-170.
    5. Massimo Conforti & Pietro Aucelli & Gaetano Robustelli & Fabio Scarciglia, 2011. "Geomorphology and GIS analysis for mapping gully erosion susceptibility in the Turbolo stream catchment (Northern Calabria, Italy)," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 56(3), pages 881-898, March.
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