ABSTRACT
The U.S. Army has the responsibility of managing over 5,500 training sites that cover more than 12 million ha of land for various training programs ranging from small fire to vehicular combat maneuvers (DEPARC 2007). These training exercises inevitably cause degradation of landscape quality on the bases by reducing vegetation cover, increasing soil erosion, and fragmenting landscape. These degraded landscapes restrict not only the environment, but also the Army’s land carrying capacity and readiness. Thus, assessing landscape quality at military installations and monitoring its dynamics is becoming very important. This study is aimed at demonstrating a method to assess and monitor landscape fragmentation for U.S. installations.
