The impacts of Atlanta’s urban sprawl on forest cover and fragmentation

The recent urbanization of the counties surrounding the city of Atlanta, GA resulted in broad deforestation and forest fragmentation of the region. These trends are the product of economic, political, and personal forces that have formed the current spatial structure of the city and the region’s forests. The economic and political forces that spurred the growth of Atlanta through the last forty years caused the deforestation and fragmentation of forests by enabling individuals to live in areas converted from forested areas to suburban expressions of the American Dream. This sprawl development of the region has come at the expense of habitat integrity and poses complex environmental conservation issues for the metro Atlanta counties. This complexity is exacerbated by different possible responses of species to forest fragmentation and different stages of fragmentation that can occur as sprawl landscapes develop through time. Understanding how the development of Atlanta impacted the surrounding forests is particularly important as it serves as a case study that other cities undergoing development can reference to inform how their development can impact the spatial structure of species habitats.

► Atlanta metro counties have lost forest cover over last 40 years.
► Urban sprawl caused the fragmentation and loss of forest cover.
► Species react differently to forest fragmentation.
► People’s affection for nature leads to the degradation of nature.