Land Use Trends, Correlations, and Effects Viewed in Atlantic County, New Jersey With GIS

Maps and Graphs

BY: Dana Kelly, Carly Hall

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES LAB (ENVL 4305)

SPRING 2020

STOCKTON UNIVERSITY
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND GEOLOGY PROGRAM
Instructor: Dr. Tait Chirenje
Abstract
Atlantic County, New Jersey is a growing county with several land use changes that can
be seen through comparisons of maps from different years. This report uses maps from several
different years that contain information regarding the land use types as well as the zoning areas.
Through these maps, comparisons of dwindling land use types and growing ones can be seen.
Atlantic County overall displayed a correlation between forest and urban land. Urban land
continues to grow as forest land continues to shrink. The zoning map was brought in to show
Pinelands Management areas that allow for further growth and those that don’t. Egg Harbor
Township was looked at specifically as the zoning map suggested it wasn’t affected much by
preserved areas and would thus be a good example of urban growth. Egg Harbor Township did
display a good example of what specific types of urban growth are occuring in Atlantic County.
The information was used to look into more specific types of growth within the urban category.
The results of these findings can provide suggestions for predictions as to how this county will
continue to grow and what land use type changes may come forward in the future. Specifically,
the data suggests that urban growth will most likely continue but it seems unlikely that it will
trump forested land completely.

Introduction
New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the United states and resides south of
New York City and East of Philadelphia, making its location suitable for commuters and
noncommuters alike. Population growth has been occuring and is expected to continue to do so,
inferring that land use types will continue to change with population. This report specifically
looks at Atlantic County and it’s land use changes using several maps that display comparisons
and correlations between the types of land use. The initial maps used in Figure 1 only looked at a
few land use types to determine which types of land use were changing most significantly. It was
determined that while other changes were happening on a smaller scale, urban growth was
highest while forest was experiencing the highest reduction rates.
Atlantic County resides partially in the Pine Barrens and has a population of about
270,000 people. In reference to its closeness to multiple cities, according to the American
Community Survey (ACS), about 3% of this population commutes 90 minutes or more while the
average population of Atlantic County travels about 25 minutes a day. (Atlantic County, NJ)
With that in mind, context can be added to the land use changes observed. Growth in urban areas
was mostly residential when compared with commercial and industrial growth, which could be
attributed to those who do commute.
As mentioned, the growth of these urban areas was found to correlate with the lessening
of forested areas. Another study of Environmental Trends conducted by the NJDEP, Division of
Science, Research, and Environmental Health noted this, mentioning effects of this such as
fragmentation that can harm wildlife habitats, watersheds and site distribution. This study was
conducted for the entirety of New Jersey, but concluded that initiatives to prevent
environmentally damaging land-use change such as acknowledging which areas may need to be
better preserved should be taken. The study used it’s data to predict future trends as well. (Land
Use and Land Cover, 2017) Initial looks into land use changes show that growth really began to
rise in 2002, and came to a slower growth in 2012. Those years were looked at to observe
changes overall in Atlantic County, while Egg Harbor Township data was compared from
1986-2012 to show how drastic some changes were.
 The objective of this report is to display Atlantic County’s land use changes alone. The
maps show that urban growth has been continuing consistently since 1986, and further
information shows where and what type of growth. This growth can be used to suggest what may
happen in the future as well as whether or not certain land uses may continue to grow or shrink.
Looking into the zoning cam help suggest where future growth could occur, as well as looking
into specific towns with higher growth. Land use change is important to observe to assure that a
county or overall area doesn’t overuse resources or area.

Methods
To acquire initial data, maps of Atlantic County were created for the years 1986, 1997,
2002, 2007, 2012, and 2015. These maps were created in ArcMap and included basic Atlantic
County land use types from the NJDEP Bureau of GIS. The initial maps only showed
agriculture, barren land, forest, urban land, water, and wetlands. These maps produced the
confirmation that forest was lowering while urban land was growing. From here, maps were
created to view urban land growth specifically, including what types of urban land. The more in
depth look at urban growth allowed a better understanding of how the county was growing.
Through excel, graphs were created to continue to better understand the growth types. Due to
Atlantic County being within the Pinelands, a map was also created to view Pineland
Management Areas. This map offered a better understanding of why certain areas had greater
growth than others, which made Egg Harbor Township a good candidate to look at for Urban
Growth. The Egg Harbor Township maps were created in ArcMap as well, using the data from
the previous maps.
Table of Contents
Content Page

Title 1

Abstract 2

Introduction 2-3

Methods 3

Figure 1: Atlantic County Land Use Maps, 5

1986, 2002, 2015

Figures 2-5: Trends within Atlantic County 6-7

Land Use

Figure 6-7: Pinelands Management Areas in 8

Atlantic County

Figure 8: Egg Harbor Township Pinelands 9

Management Areas

Figure 9-11: Egg Harbor Township Land Use 10-11

Maps, 1986 and 2012

Figure 10-11: Trends within Egg Harbor 10-11

Township Land Use

Figure 12: Aerial Photos for Further Context 12

Discussion & Results 13

Sources 14

Appendices 15
Figure 1: Atlantic County Land Use Maps, years 1986, 2002, 2015
(NJDEP Open Data.)

Figure 2: Overall Land Use Changes In Atlantic County from 1986-2015 Graph

(NJDEP Open Data.)

Figure 3: Atlantic County Land Use Type Comparison of 2002 and 2007 in Acres Table
Land Use Type 2002 2007 Net Change

Agriculture 24,043 23,406 -583

Barren Land 4,047 2,900 -1,147

Forest 142,508 138,232 -4,267

Urban Land 60,039 65,553 5,514

Water 38,013 39,078 1,056

Wetlands 122,163 121,592 -571

(2.)
Figure 4: Types of Urban Growth in Atlantic County Graph, Years 2002 and 2012

Figure 5: Urban and Forest Comparison in Atlantic County Graph, 2002 and 2012
Figure 6: Atlantic County Pinelands Management Areas Map

(1.)
Figure 7: Distribution of Pineland Management Areas Graph
Figure 8: Egg Harbor Township Pinelands Management Areas Map

(1)
Figure 9: Egg Harbor Township Land Use Maps, Years 1986, 2012

(NJDEP Open Data.)

Figure 10: Egg Harbor Township Sum of Shape Area for Urban Land Use Graphs, Years
1986 and 2012
Figure 11: Egg Harbor Township Sum of Shape Area for Urban and Forest Areas, 1986
and 2012

(NJDEP Open Data.)

Figure 12: Aerial View Photos of an Area Where Urban Development Occurred, Left Image
1995, Right Image 2015.

(1)
Results and Discussion
Atlantic County has seen substantial growth from 1986-2015, most of which occurred
from 2002 to 2012 as seen in Figures 2 and 3. The biggest land use changes are seen within
urban land use and forest land use, with a correlation between the two. Urban land use grows as
forest land use shrinks. While overall the urban land use has not taken over the forested land as
shown in Figure 2, towns outside the confines of the preserved pine barrens that lay within more
residential areas are experiencing urban areas dominating forested areas, as shown in Figure 11.
Of urban land use types, residential has seen the largest growth, as seen in Figure 4 and Figure
10. This could be due to the amount of commuting done within New Jersey and the fact a
majority of the Atlantic County population commutes at least twenty four minutes while about
3% commutes 90 minutes. Wetlands areas remain consistent most likely due to protections
placed on them. Agriculture land use remains consistent as well.

Conclusion
Atlantic County is continuing to grow as it has been since 1986, though not as quickly
now. Residential urban growth is the highest form of growth, which one study attributed to the
fact that more residential building permits have been allowed over the years compared to
previously. (Land Use and Land Cover, 2017) This could also correlate to the commuting levels
that occur within New Jersey overall and the types of land use required to maintain the current
population that may not work within the area or require commercial and industrial uses. (Atlantic
County, NJ) Forested land is shrinking, and while it is still dominant within Atlantic County, it
may be cause for concern for future generations. Other studies have shown that urban areas
within forested areas can cause fragmentation and disrupt the ecosystem, and being that the pine
barrens are home to multiple species that exist only there, it could have negative effects if it
continues. (Land Use and Land Cover, 2017) The regional growth areas within Atlantic County
do appear a bit out of the confines of the most heavily forested regions, but the effect of this still
needs to be taken into consideration as they will surround the forested regions. The small effect
urban growth has had on wetlands displays the power within protecting certain land types and
preventing building within them. The protection of this land types assistance in maintaining it
could be used to set an example as to what to do for forest areas that currently remain to prevent
Atlantic County from exceeding forest land with urban land, as occurred in Egg Harbor
Township. Having the forested area can help reduce flooding as well. Based on the data within
this report as well as from a study done on New Jersey as a whole, Atlantic County will most
likely continue to grow. Looking at the growth areas that remain it most likely won’t see a spike
in urban land use the same way it did from 2002-2012, but over longer periods of time the
growth will still be clear. Viewing studies that show the negative effects of fragmented forest and
lower forest density, the continued growth should take into account not only the amount of
non-urban land it bleeds into, but how it will affect surrounding land as well.
Sources

1 (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nj.gov/dep/gis/listall.html

2 (n.d.). Retrieved from https://njgin.state.nj.us/OGIS_IW/

Atlantic County, NJ. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://datausa.io/profile/geo/atlantic-county-nj

Land Use and Land Cover. (2017, August). Retrieved from

https://www.nj.gov/dep/dsr/trends/landuse.pdf

NJDEP Open Data. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://gisdata-njdep.opendata.arcgis.com/

US Census Bureau. (2020, January 23). American Community Survey (ACS). Retrieved from

https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/
Appendices