A simulation model of land-use change in the Lake Tahoe Basin of California and Nevada, as used in a decision-support system

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Abstract

The Tahoe Land-Use Change model is a stochastic, spatially explicit simulation of future land-use change—in particular, development and retirement of individual parcels—in the Lake Tahoe Basin of California and Nevada. The Federal, State, and regional management agencies responsible for the basin are revising and integrating their 20-year plans to meet various goals, including maintaining or improving several environmental (e.g., lake clarity, forest health) and socioeconomic (e.g., affordable housing) characteristics. To assist this effort, the model projects the long-term outcomes of land-use-management decisions, including those relating to existing and potential government regulations, development activities, and conservation practices. The model results are probabilistic maps of parcel-specific changes in land use and the resulting changes in the amount and locations of developed parcels and land-use change. To capture the uncertainties and variation in the exact parcels of land selected for development or retirement by individuals acting in the basin, a single model run includes multiple iterations, from which cumulative statistics are taken to describe the results. The purpose of the model is to generate changes in the amounts and types of land use and land cover that form inputs to a basinwide model of pollutant loading to Lake Tahoe, which, in turn, generates inputs to a lake-clarity model. Together, these three models form a chain of tools that link land-use decisions to changes in a critical environmental quality—the clarity of Lake Tahoe—within a decision-support context. Eventually, these three models will become part of a larger, more complete decision-support system.

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Publication type Conference Paper
Publication Subtype Conference Paper
Title A simulation model of land-use change in the Lake Tahoe Basin of California and Nevada, as used in a decision-support system
Year Published 2006
Language English
Publisher International Environmental Modelling and Software Society
Contributing office(s) Western Geographic Science Center
Description 6 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Conference publication
Larger Work Title Proceedings of 3rd International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software - Burlington, Vermont, USA - July 2006
Conference Title 3rd International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software
Conference Location Burlington, VT
Conference Date July 9-13, 2006
Country United States
State California, Nevada
Other Geospatial Lake Tahoe basin
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