Using real estate records to assess forest land parcelization and development: A Minnesota case study

We measure the extent and location of forest parcelization activity in a heavily forested Minnesota county between 1999 and 2006 and examine both the immediate and extended relationship between parcelization and development activity. We document forest land parcelization and development activity over time utilizing readily available real estate parcel data. Despite widespread perceptions of rapidly increasing rates of parcelization, we observed no significant positive or negative trend in parcelization activity in Itasca County during the study period: an average of only 0.4% of private forest land was parcelized each year. Parcelization was more common near cities, water, and public lands. While the overall rate of parcelization observed in this study may seem meager, closer examination of specific parcels suggest that parcelization is intimately tied to development activity and that this development occurs not long after parcelization.