An Assessment of Land Cover in the Perdido Bay Watershed, Alabama

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As one of the two coastal counties in the state of Alabama, Baldwin County is almost entirely surrounded by water bodies. This study area and particular watershed comprised of wetlands was chosen since it is a highly sensitive and vulnerable area to both environmental and human change, while at the same time, exponentially growing in population. Valdez et al. (2016) suggests that significant environmental pressure and degradation occurs at a quicker rate as the population experiences quick growth.

In order to conduct this study, several datasets were used including the National Land Cover Database, which provided the land cover raster image for 2011 as well as the land change from 2001 to 2011 (30m resolution). The 10 meter DEM was downloaded from AlabamaView. Since high precision does not necessarily equate to high accuracy, the potential for inaccuracies in the datasets is possible. While this is kept under consideration throughout the study, the data comes from credited and reliable sources to decrease the likelihood for error and inaccuracies.

This reveals that change is observed throughout the watershed and it is not limited to one single land cover type. Valdez et al. (2016) identified that coastal wetlands in particular are highly sensitive to change, especially when under pressure from urban development based on population growth. While the Perdido Bay Watershed does not represent high values of land cover change, this study similarly concludes that while the specific reasoning behind land use changes are unknown, coastal zones should nevertheless be a top priority in conservation and land use management plans (Valdez et al. 2016). Protected areas should be established throughout the watershed and not limited to solely around the water bodies. ![endif]--![endif]--

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