“Evening Window, Madison, NJ,” photographed by Brian Fru, Flickr

Introduction

Reviewing the land use/land cover designations that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection updates regularly tells us important information about the composition of Madison in terms of different habitats: forests, wetlands, and urban cover.  Land Use/Land Cover changes tell us about planning and zoning priorities, the impacts of development, and how environmental characteristics, like stormwater and drainage, might be affected.

Data

The most recent updates from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) on Land Use/Land Cover are for 2020.  Land use types include: agriculture (light green), barren land (yellow), forest (green), urban (pink), water (blue), and wetlands (light blue). Older versions of the Land Use/Land Cover layers are reviewed here.

Results

In Madison, 85 percent of land cover, about 2300 acres, is urban, followed by 12 percent, 330 acres, forest cover, and wetlands as 2 percent, 55 acres.  Agriculture, barren land, and water all total to less than one percent of land use.

Since 2015, about 5 acres of forest cover were lost in conversion to urban or barren land.  About ⅓ of an acre of wetland cover was converted to urban cover.  Forest cover loss has been observed since records on forest cover have been examined over the last several decades.

Conclusion

Information on land use and land cover types and changes offers an important survey or snapshot on how our community values, cares for, and stewards our natural environment.  Access to green spaces are important for a variety of natural systems: species diversity, water quality, and air quality.  Forests mitigate urban heat.  Green (and blue) spaces are also important for human health and wellness, reducing stress and tension, and offering opportunities for restoration and recreation.  Reducing forest, wetland, and water loss is an environmental issue and an equity issue.

About the Data

Land use/land cover data for the state of New Jersey for 2020 was published by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of GIS in 2023.

The 2020 data is the seveth update of a series that began in 1985.  The newest layer was generated by comparing the 2015 data to color infrared imagery of land use from 2020.

NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), Division of Information Technology (DOIT), Bureau of Geographic Informatino Systems (BGIS). 2023. Land Use/Land Cover of New Jersey 2020. Available online on ArcGIS.com: https://arcg.is/1DeT5a

A one-page slide of this webpage is available here.

A full page version of the this online map is available here.