ABSTRACT
Human-induced factors are causing significant changes in the wildland-urban interface. The interface includes the edges of both large cities and small communities, where forests or other rural lands are adjacent to urban centers, areas where homes and other structures are intermixed with forests or other land uses, and islands of undeveloped lands within urban areas. From 1970 to 1990, the population of the U.S. increased by 36 million (24.2 percent), but the density of the urban population actually decreased by 23.2 percent because land in urban areas increased by 21 million acres, a 60 percent increase in total area. During the same period, about 400,000 acres of rural land per year were converted into urban areas (Garkovich 2000), and much of this land was forested. Alig et al. (2000) noted that about 14 million acres of nonindustrial private forests (NIPF) were lost to urban use between 1952 and 1997. Along with the decrease in forest area, the number
of forest landowners is on the rise, suggesting an increase in forest fragmentation. Each year, about 150,000 new forest landowners are added to the list (Sampson and DeCoster 2000), many of whom may be families who are buying small parcels of forest and moving into rural areas to improve their quality of life (Egan and Luloff 2000).
