#landuse — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

ˈdälfən™🐬 💥 🌊 @[email protected] · 2026-09-06 · 20:37 UTC

"Data centers represent 27% of development sites in the U.S. this year. It’s the second-highest category after apartment buildings..."

Land prices are up 79% from last year.

And "home builders cannot bid in that market, because a builder’s land budget is capped by what home buyers can afford. A data center operator faces no such constraint. The result is ... no homes at all."

#USA #AI #DataCenters #LandUse #housing #farming
---
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/06/ai-data-centers-are-transforming-rural-land-markets-fueling-backlash.html

#usa #ai #datacenters #landuse #housing #farming

ˈdälfən™🐬 💥 🌊 @dalfen · 2026-09-06 · 20:37 UTC

"Data centers represent 27% of development sites in the U.S. this year. It’s the second-highest category after apartment buildings..."

Land prices are up 79% from last year.

And "home builders cannot bid in that market, because a builder’s land budget is capped by what home buyers can afford. A data center operator faces no such constraint. The result is ... no homes at all."

#USA #AI #DataCenters #LandUse #housing #farming
---
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/06/ai-data-centers-are-transforming-rural-land-markets-fueling-backlash.html

#usa #ai #datacenters #landuse #housing #farming

ˈdälfən™🐬 💥 🌊 @[email protected] · 2026-09-06 · 20:37 UTC

"Data centers represent 27% of development sites in the U.S. this year. It’s the second-highest category after apartment buildings..."

Land prices are up 79% from last year.

And "home builders cannot bid in that market, because a builder’s land budget is capped by what home buyers can afford. A data center operator faces no such constraint. The result is ... no homes at all."

#USA #AI #DataCenters #LandUse #housing #farming
---
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/06/ai-data-centers-are-transforming-rural-land-markets-fueling-backlash.html

#usa #ai #datacenters #landuse #housing #farming

ˈdälfən™🐬 💥 🌊 @[email protected] · 2026-09-06 · 20:37 UTC

"Data centers represent 27% of development sites in the U.S. this year. It’s the second-highest category after apartment buildings..."

Land prices are up 79% from last year.

And "home builders cannot bid in that market, because a builder’s land budget is capped by what home buyers can afford. A data center operator faces no such constraint. The result is ... no homes at all."

#USA #AI #DataCenters #LandUse #housing #farming
---
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/06/ai-data-centers-are-transforming-rural-land-markets-fueling-backlash.html

#farming #housing #landuse #datacenters #ai #usa

ˈdälfən™🐬 💥 🌊 @[email protected] · 2026-09-06 · 20:37 UTC

"Data centers represent 27% of development sites in the U.S. this year. It’s the second-highest category after apartment buildings..."

Land prices are up 79% from last year.

And "home builders cannot bid in that market, because a builder’s land budget is capped by what home buyers can afford. A data center operator faces no such constraint. The result is ... no homes at all."

#USA #AI #DataCenters #LandUse #housing #farming
---
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/06/ai-data-centers-are-transforming-rural-land-markets-fueling-backlash.html

#usa #ai #datacenters #landuse #housing #farming

💧🌏 Greg Cocks @[email protected] · 2026-08-14 · 03:26 UTC

Impact Of Urbanization Driven Land Use And Land Cover Change On Ecological Environmental Quality In Rupandehi Nepal Assessed Using The Remote Sensing Ecological Index
--
https://doi.org/10.1007/s44288-026-00650-y <-- shared paper
--
https://kathmandupost.com/money/2026/02/18/rupandehi-s-continued-urban-sprawl-comes-at-a-cost-for-agriculture-in-the-periphery <-- shared media article
--
H/T@ Gaurav Parajulim
“[The authors] studied how the ecological quality of Nepal's Rupandehi District has changed over three decades (1993–2023), using satellite imagery and the Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) to track the health of the landscape year by year and to understand how urbanization-driven land use change has reshaped it.
What [they] found tells a nuanced story: as Butwal and Bhairahawa grew and built-up land expanded, ecological quality shifted in ways that a single number can't capture, some areas recovered, others declined, and the patterns rarely moved in a straight line…”
--
“Rapid urbanization and population growth are major drivers of land use and land cover (LULC) change and can substantially alter ecological environmental quality (EEQ). This study assessed the spatiotemporal dynamics of LULC and their effect on EEQ in Rupandehi District, Nepal, over a 30-year period (1993–2023). Four ecological indicators representing greenness, wetness, dryness, and heat were derived from Landsat imagery in Google Earth Engine (GEE), and LULC was classified using a Support Vector Machine (SVM). The Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) was then constructed from these indicators using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in ArcGIS Pro, and its spatial structure was examined using global and local spatial autocorrelation. The mean RSEI followed a non-linear trajectory, rising from 0.59 in 1993 to 0.635 in 2004, declining to 0.55 in 2013, and recovering to 0.67 in 2023, indicating an overall improvement in EEQ with a temporary mid-period decline. Over the same period, built-up areas expanded substantially and agricultural land declined, whereas forest cover fluctuated but showed a slight net increase by 2023, and barren land decreased markedly. Higher EEQ was concentrated in the forested northern hills, while lower values occurred in the urban centers of Butwal and Bhairahawa, closely matching the spatial pattern of LULC change. The results indicate that ecological quality reflects the combined influence of all land cover classes rather than any single class. This study provides a transferable and reproducible workflow for long-term ecological assessment based on openly available Landsat data, with the analysis code shared in a public repository, offering practical guidance for sustainable land management and environmentally responsible urban development...”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #RemoteSensing #GIS #RSEI #EnvironmentalMonitoring #Nepal #Research #GoogleEarthEngine #ArcGIS #EcologicalQuality #spatialautocorrelation #ecology #environment #earthobservation #RemoteSensingEcologicalIndex #landscape #urbanisation #urban #development #landuse #change #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal

#gis #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #rsei #environmentalmonitoring

💧🌏 Greg Cocks @[email protected] · 2026-07-28 · 05:07 UTC

Busy Beavers - The Turbidity Signature Of Ecosystem Engineers At Work
--
https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70661 <-- shared paper
--
H/T @alan Puttock
“Beavers are the quintessential ecosystem engineers. In slow-flowing streams, they create complex wetlands with ponds by building dams and canals that can positively impact biodiversity, hydrology and water quality. These activities can interchangeably capture or release sediment along the watercourse. To date this has not been quantified at the resolution of rainfall events or beaver activity. This study used 15-min frequency, sustained monitoring upstream and downstream of a newly establishing beaver wetland to measure episodic changes in water turbidity at an event resolution. Monitoring showed no significant differences between upstream and downstream turbidity over 160 days when the first pair of beavers, known not to be building dams or canals, were resident. Shortly after introduction of another beaver pair, however, dam building, burrows and canal excavations were quickly observed, resulting in the creation of a complex beaver wetland between 2021 and 2024. Monitoring over 375 days during this period showed significant differences. Downstream turbidity was significantly higher overall than upstream: 13.1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) compared to 4.2 NTU. Stochastic spikes in downstream turbidity during the study period not recorded upstream were associated with dam building and burrowing. Overall, there was no significant difference in turbidity loads, which was at least partially explained by a reduction in discharge downstream, particularly in higher flows, during the dam building period. This demonstrates a complex system with the trapping of influent sediment, the storing of water and the periodic release of beaver wetland sediment leading to net balance in loads. These results help provide context for other studies which have used temporally discrete sampling campaigns rather than continuous high-frequency monitoring. They provide a unique insight into the downstream impacts of a rapidly developing beaver wetland over its first three and a half years in a landscape that hasn't had beavers for over 400 years…"
#hydromorphic #water #hydrology #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #biodiversity #ecology #benefits #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalScience #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #valleysreborn #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #monitoring #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal

#hydromorphic #water #hydrology #dam #beaverdam #waterquality

💧🌏 Greg Cocks @[email protected] · 2026-07-14 · 03:14 UTC

Mapping Multifunctionality In Remote Patagonian Forest Landscapes Reveals High-Value Ecosystems Beyond Protected Areas
--
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03515-x <-- shared paper
--
H/T @Peter Potapov | Researcher at the World Resources Institute (WRI)
“This paper is] a strong example of multifunctionality analysis applied to conservation planning. The study mapped six ecosystem functions, including carbon storage, nutrient availability, water regulation, erosion control, habitat quality, and ecological connectivity. [The author] combined satellite data, field soil sampling, and spatial modeling for this comprehensive analysis.
Two findings stand out.
1. Old-growth forests had the highest multifunctionality index of any land cover type.
2. 78.5% of the top multifunctionality hotspots fall outside the region's protected areas, even though PAs already cover more than 54% of the territory.
Together, these results make a clear case for expanding conservation of the remaining Intact Forest Landscapes and primary forests in Patagonia and elsewhere…”
--
“Remote forest landscapes provide critical references for understanding ecosystem functions (EFs) under low anthropogenic pressure, yet their capacity to sustain multiple EFs simultaneously remains poorly understood. [They] assessed landscape multifunctionality in western Patagonia by integrating satellite indicators, field data, and spatial modeling. Six EFs (carbon storage, nutrient availability, water regulation, erosion control, habitat quality, and ecological connectivity) were mapped, and their spatial relationships and hotspot distribution within and outside protected areas (PAs) were analyzed. Old-growth and secondary forests showed the highest functional performance. Strong synergies (ρ ≥ 0.6) between carbon storage and nutrient availability covered >50% of the landscape, whereas strong trade-offs (ρ ≤ –0.6) were spatially limited ( < 6%). Notably, 78% of multifunctionality hotspots occurred outside PAs, indicating that high-functional-value areas extend beyond formal conservation boundaries. These findings reveal spatial mismatches between multifunctionality and protection status and provide a replicable framework for integrating multifunctionality into conservation planning under global change…”
#Patagonia #chile #aysen #coyhaique #landcover #mapping #spatial #spatialpatterns #spatiotemporal #spatialanalysis #forest #vegetation #oldgrowth #secondgrowth #shrubland #grassland #steppe #ecosystem #habitat #nutrients #water #hydrology #erosion #multifunctionality #multifunctionalityanalysis #protectedareas #landuse #conservationplanning #conservation #ecology #carbonstorage #nutrientavailability #waterregulation #erosioncontrol #habitatquality #ecologicalconnectivity #remotesensing #satellite #earthobservation #modeling

#patagonia #chile #aysen #coyhaique #landcover #mapping

💧🌏 Greg Cocks @[email protected] · 2026-07-14 · 03:00 UTC

Eager Beavers - Rodents Engineer Czech Wetland Project After Years Of Human Delay [ecosystem engineers]
--
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/beavers-save-czech-taxpayers-by-flooding-ex-army-training-site <-- shared technical media article
--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver-engineered_dam_in_the_Czech_Republic <-- shared wiki technical page
--
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-fine-beavers-czech-treasury-million.html <-- shared technical article
--
https://youtu.be/GSTw8qmBP4Y?si=XK2Iy2pAltW91flj <-- shared video (Czech)
--
H/T @ScienceGirl
"We don't expect any conflict with the beaver in the next 10 years," ~ Bohumil Fiser from the Czech Nature Conservation Agency
--
“For seven years, planners struggled to complete a $1.2 million wetland restoration project in the Brdy region of the Czech Republic. The goal was to build a dam that would improve water management and bring back valuable wetland habitat, but the project remained trapped in a maze of permits and approvals.
Then a family of eight Eurasian beavers did what engineers had planned… without permits, machinery, or a budget.
The beavers built a network of dams in almost the exact area chosen for the proposed project, naturally restoring the wetland system officials had spent years trying to create. After seeing the results, authorities decided there was little point continuing with the original human-built dam.
Although some reports suggested the beavers completed the work overnight, experts say their construction likely took several weeks. The reason it seemed sudden is that the animals quietly worked away until their finished dams became impossible to miss.
Beavers are known as “ecosystem engineers” because their behaviour can reshape entire environments. By cutting trees and blocking streams, they create ponds and wetlands that support countless species, including fish, amphibians, insects, birds, and mammals.
Their wetlands also act as natural water reservoirs, helping during droughts, reducing flood risks, filtering water, storing carbon, and keeping landscapes wetter during wildfires…
Once heavily hunted across Europe, beaver populations have been recovering thanks to conservation efforts, proving that sometimes nature can solve problems humans spend years trying to fix…"
#water #hydrology #KlabavaRiver #Czech #BrdyRegion #protected #CzechRepublic #armytraining #military #beaver #Eurasianbeavers #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #restoration #biodiversity #crayfish #wetland #ecology #benefits #Beavers #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #Agroforestry #EnvironmentalScience #Conservation #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #EcosystemEngineers #nature #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flood #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #agriculture #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #drought #wildfire #valleysreborn #slowdetermination #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #ecosystemengineers #watermanagement

#water #hydrology #klabavariver #czech #brdyregion #protected

DoomsdaysCW @[email protected] · 2026-06-07 · 17:13 UTC

Legacy of #Indigenous #stewardship of #camas dates back more than 3,500 years, #OSU study finds

May 20, 2024

Excerpt: CORVALLIS, Ore. — "An #Oregon State University study found evidence that Indigenous groups in the #PacificNorthwest were intentionally harvesting edible #CamasBulbs at optimal stages of the plant’s maturation as far back as 3,500 years ago.

"The findings contribute to the growing body of research around #TraditionalEcologicalKnowledge and practices, demonstrating the care and specificity with which Indigenous groups have been stewarding and cultivating natural resources for millennia.

"Camas is an #ecological and cultural keystone, meaning it is a species that many other organisms depend on and that features prominently within many cultural practices.

" 'If you think about #salmon as being a charismatic species that people are very familiar with, camas is kind of the plant equivalent,' said Molly Carney, an assistant professor of anthropology in OSU’s College of Liberal Arts and lead author on the study. 'It is one of those species that really holds up greater #ecosystems, a fundamental species which everything is related to.'

"An eye-catching blue flower that grows widely throughout the Pacific Northwest, camas is referred to in Indigenous calendars across the region, with the plant’s growth stages used as a sort of seasonal benchmark. It is often included in traditional #FirstFood ceremonies, in which tribal communities mark the coming of spring with the first #SalmonRun or the first #EdibleRoots after a long winter, Carney said.

"Camas bulbs must be baked for two to three days to render them edible. Once soft, the bulbs taste a bit like sweet potato, Carney said. Traditional baking was done in underground ovens using heated rocks."

#SolarPunkSunday #LandUse
#IndigenousFoods #CulturalPreservation
#NativeAmericanHistory #IndigenousStewardship #IndigenousHistory #TraditionalFoods
#TraditionalFoodSources #KeystoneSpecies #PNW #TEK