Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Landscape and Urban Planning

Publisher

Elsevier

Rights and Access Note

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Publication Date

5-2011

Publisher location

Amsterdam, Netherlands

First Page

190

Last Page

203

Issue Number

2

Volume Number

101

Abstract/ Summary

Experts with different land use interests often use differing definitions of land suitability that can result in competing land use decisions. We use Bayesian belief networks linked to GIS data layers to integrate empirical data and expert knowledge from two different land use interests (development and conservation) in Maine’s Lower Penobscot River Watershed. Using ground locations and digital orthoquads, we determined the overall accuracy of the resulting development and conservation suitability maps to be 82% and 89%, respectively. Overlay of the two maps show large areas of land suitable for both conservation protection and economic development and provide multiple options for mitigating potential conflict among these competing land users. The modeling process can be adapted to help prioritize and choose among different alternatives as new information becomes available, or as land use and land-use policies change. The current model structure provides a maximal coverage strategy that allows decision makers to target and prioritize several areas for protection or development and to set specific strategies in the face of changing ecological, social, or economic processes. Having multiple options can generate new hypotheses and decisions at more local scales or for more specific conservation purposes not yet identified by stakeholders and decision makers in the region. Subsequently, new models can be developed using the same process, but with higher resolution data, thereby helping a community evaluate the impacts of alternative land uses between different prioritized areas at finer scales.

Citation/Publisher Attribution

McCloskey, J.T., Lilieholm, R.J., & Cronan, C.S. 2011. Using Bayesian Belief Networks to Identify Future Compatibilities and Conflicts between Development and Landscape Conservation. Landscape and Urban Planning 101(2011):190-203

Publisher Statement

© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOI

10.1016/j.landurbplan.2011.02.011

Version

post-print (i.e. final draft post-refereeing with all author corrections and edits)

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Rights Statement

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.