The study of Landscape Dynamics along the Colorado Front Range (subsequently called the Colorado CUES) will collect, integrate and make available geospatial data and scientific understanding produced by the Geography Discipline to address numerous resource use, sustainability and ecosystem health issues which pertain to the urban ecosystem environment. The project will demonstrate the depth of analysis and discovery possible when a robust, multi-scale geographic database is made available. Further, it will provide an assessment of what is needed to aid in the development of The National Map. The project will coordinate efforts in USGS Geography Discipline programs: Geographic Analysis and Monitoring (GAM), Land Remote Sensing (LRS), and Cooperative Topographic Mapping (CTM) Programs to access the scientific knowledge and spatial data of the Geography Discipline through The National Map.
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Colorado Front Range Urban Growth Map
1937, '57, '77, '97
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The Colorado CUES will address landscape change and its effects on specific resources. The population of the Colorado Front Range has increased from 330,000 in 1900 to over 3.5 million in 2000 and is projected to grow to a population of 5.8 million by 2030.
Front Range Metropolitan Statistical Growth (MSA) Population Growth
This population growth has resulted in significant transformations on the Colorado landscape. The consequences of human induced landscape change include increased demand for natural resources (air, water, minerals, plants, animals, open space), the creation of additional impervious surfaces (which generate increased urban runoff that contributes to increased flood risk and higher levels of nutrient loading in water bodies) the loss of wildlife habitat (including threatened and endangered species) increased air pollution, increased fire risk to human populations in the wildland urban interface, and increased traffic congestion.
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