Identifying areas of relative change in forest fragmentation in New Hampshire between 1990 and 2000

Forest fragmentation potentially can impact many facets of natural ecosystems. Numerous methods have been employed to assess static forest fragmentation. Few studies, however, have analyzed changes in forest fragmentation over time. In this study, we developed new classifications from Landsat imagery data acquired in 1990 and 2000 for New Hampshire, assessed fragmentation in both time periods, and created maps depicting the spatial extent of fragmentation change through time. Visual inspection of the resulting maps suggests the method successfully identifies areas of the State where fragmentation is occurring at a relatively high rate.