Running Head: ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY, NEW JERSEY

Using ArcGIS to Analyze Land Use in Cape May, New Jersey

Derek Hafstad, Cezanne Czworkowski, and Hunter Kerley

Environmental Issues ENVL 4300

Dr. Tait Chirenje

February 11, 2019

ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 1

Abstract

This lab will use ArcMap to create maps to analyze changes over the course of

26 years (1986-2012) in Cape May County New Jersey, and 20 years (1995-2015) in

the city of Cape May, New Jersey. Our maps show an increasing population and

decreasing land/forest area. The point of this study was to show how the diverse land

use is throughout Cape May County, and how growing urban populations are spreading

outwards into what should be more protected areas. This rapid growth is shown in our

figures and tables highlighting how deforestation, agriculture, and overdevelopment are

destroying the more vegetated parts of the county. This encroachment coupled with the

expansion towards every non-protected acre of wetlands that is left along the coast is

spelling disaster for many of the beautiful natural areas left within the county. The

hopeful trend is that cities will start to build up instead of out, in hopes to preserve

acreage instead of harvest land.

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Introduction

The data revolving around this lab is based on Cape May County with the

express purpose of measuring land use changes within the county. This was monitored

over the span of 26 years, from 1986-2012, with the obvious trend of losing forest and

gaining urban development over time. This is a common trend throughout the entire

county, as population levels increase and we see encroachment on local dunes and

wetland environments. As most of the wetlands in the county are protected, we tend to

notice a very slow encroachment on that front, typically only having a loss of 1000 acres

per 5 years. This may sound alarming, but it is quite slow in comparison to other habitat

loss such as deforestation.There appeared to be an anomaly with the dataset for 1997

as the figures appeared unusually high.. We chalked this up to a change in data

acquisition methods after noticing the addition of measuring bays for the water table and

additional estuaries for wetlands.

As for urban growth and deforestation, the relationship tends to be more direct,

as deforestation acreage and urban growth acreage seem to increase and decrease at

nearly the same rate. This can be alarming due to a direct correlation linked between

habitat fragmentation and development. Our charts indicate the various differences

between growing populations and shrinking environment in New Jersey, where our

maps paint a picture of the areas that most affected by this explosion in growth.
ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 3

Table of Contents

Abstract………………………………………………………………………...…1

Introduction…...…………………………………………………………………..2

Table of Contents..……………………………………………………….………3

Objectives…...………………………………………………………………..…..4

Methods…...………………………………………………………………..…….4

Results…...………………………………………………………………..…...…6

Discussion…...……………………………………………………………….......14

Conclusion…...………………………………………………………………..….16

References…...………………………………………………………..….…..…17

Appendices…...…………………………………………………..……….....…..18
ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 4

Objectives

Our objectives were to study the loss of overall landmass from Cape May County

and it’s shift towards a more urbanized region. The county is a relatively low populated

area, so its interior regions will not have issues accommodating an influx of population.

The barrier islands have a dense population, thus making expansion in those regions

difficult to the dunes and the surrounding wetlands regions. Though this expansion can

be quite damaging, if you look at the comparative maps for 1997 vs 2012, there is a

massive explosion of urban regions throughout the coastal islands. This large

expansion in urban growth was not only in the barrier islands, but is also moving

southward in the West Cape May region. More noticeable in regions that were once

barren land or agriculture. We aimed to show this information because it points out the

shift away from farming within the county and how it has become less popular. The

once popular farming communities that wrap around the western parts of the start are

slowly growing into popular suburban regions

Methods

Using NJIN Information Warehouse, we created digital orthoquads of our

neighborhood from 1995-2012. After inputting our address, we clicked the drop down

arrow to choose the year. Once the map of the chosen year loaded, we clicked “select

by polygon” and selected the four DOQQ’S (digital ortho quarter quads) nearest to our

home. Once the four DOQQ’s were selected, we added them to our cart and

downloaded them as a Mr.SID file. After downloading, the files need to be exported into

our H: Drive or external hard drive where they can be uploaded into ArcMap. Once in
ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 5

ArchMap, the four quadrants can be merged by geoprocessing into one map showing a

greater area to identify the changes from 1995-2012.

Cape May County land use/land cover shapefiles for 1986, 1995/97, 2002, 2007,

and 2012 were downloaded from the Bureau of GIS on the New Jersey Department of

Environmental Protection website. They were then extracted and imported into ArcMap

10.6 for further analysis by going to add data and selecting the shapefiles. Starting in

1995/97, the land use shapefiles were divided up by watershed management areas, so

the Great Egg Harbor water management area and the Cape May watershed

management area were combined using the merge option under geoprocessing. They

were then clipped using a cape may county map by putting the merged watershed files

into the input features, the county map in the clip features, and giving it a name while

making sure its a shapefile in the output features class.

Maps of individual land use categories were created by opening the attributes

table, going to select by attributes, entering lu07, clicking equal, clicking “get unique

values”, selecting a specific land use, and then exporting it after everything for that land

use is selected. This will create a shapefile that only has one land use. The color of the

different land uses were then standardized throughout the years by left clicking the color

on the left side and selecting the specific color for that land use. Area for each land use

was then obtained by opening the attributes table, left clicking the acres tab and

selecting statistics to get the sum of all area for that land use in acres. This data was

then added to an excel file for further analysis.

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Results:

Figure 1: Cape May Peninsula 1995 Figure 2: Cape May Peninsula 2002

Figure 3: Cape May Peninsula 2002 Figure 4: Cape May Peninsula 2012
ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 7

Figure 5: Cape May Peninsula 2015

Figures 1 through 5 show the aerial images of Cape May over the course of 20

years created using NJIN Information Warehouse. Since 1995, the city layout has

already been set relating to the preserved land and the land designated for

development. The preserved land is mostly centered around the waterways in the

estuary while the urban area is focused more along the coast and the major roadways.

Most of the inland area is made up of the suburbs, while the coast focuses more

on businesses to cater to tourists. The area around the bay is mostly marinas with an

area above the protected land being a wealthier district seeing as there are not as many

houses per block and more lawns. The beaches look similar suggesting that there was

not any erosion of the sand over the years or a process of beach nourishment took

place.
ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 8

Discussion of the changes of land use from 1986-2012

Land use has drastically changed since 1986 when comparing to the most recent

data set available of 2012 where we see almost 8% of the total forested land in New

Jersey being lost. This information is visible in table 1, which equates the 8% decrease

to nearly 3000 acres, which is going to be almost entirely attributed to building and

expansion outward of towns and for lumber collection, mostly near the Woodbine

municipality.

This growth in population is visible in urban development growth as noted in the

table, which is nearly 7000 acres of growth. This lends us knowledge that more than

half of the urban growth also came from other land categories in the state. These

sources tend to be wetlands encroachment and barren land, with more of the land being

built on barren properties.

Additional land information that was gathered had shown that there is large

variabilities in both water acreage and wetland acreage from year to year. Now whether

this is in accordance to those land masses being measured differently over the years, or

the general increase in rising sea levels is up to debate. As we noticed, the

measurement of water acreage changed drastically from 1986 to 1997. This was due

primarily to bays being counted as part of the counties water claims. From there we

noticed the water land table increasing as they started to include part of the shoreline as

additional acreage.

As visible in most of the of the maps, the growth in urban areas often resides

along the barrier islands for the county. This shows the large issue with growing habitat
ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 9

fragmentation for the wetland regions in the area. Though the region has mostly

protected wetlands, the already existent urban regions are increasing in population

allowing for further development to cause both noise and litter pollution in the delicate

ecosystems around it.

Graph 1: Change in Land Use

In graph 1 we see the impact that urban growth has in relation to the loss of other

land use areas within the county. Naturally the relationships are going to be inverse

because the land for expansion has to come from somewhere. This means human and

economic growth often will come at the expense of something. As mentioned in the

beginning, nearly 3000 acres of forest land was lost over the 25 year span, which when

fleshed out seems like a lot. Though when you compare it to agriculture and barren

land, they lose much larger percentages. It may seem that it is preferable that

agricultural land is lost instead of wetlands or forest, due to the already low biodiversity

of a farming lands soil, but other issues still exist. Those issues remain in the decrease
ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 10

in permeability of soils with the increase in housing or commercial buildings, along with

the increase in roads. This can adversely affect the water table for the local aquifer,

along with the natural increase in pollution that is going to come from a higher

population density area.

Graph 2:

Wetlands appeared to be a bit of an inconsistency point with the data, and we

wanted to mention it due to it being a prevalent environment to look at, but its data is too

hard to make conclusive points about. The large jump from 1986 to 1997 is due the

water in between the estuaries being included as part of the wetlands for acreage which

drastically changed the makeup of the region. This coupled with flooding in certain

areas or dry periods during measurement can cause inconsistencies within the dataset.

Though this is the case, after 1997 we can see one consistent trend, and that is that
ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 11

wetlands are decreasing. This is almost entirely attributed to human population growth

within the region, which can pose more issues due to wetland destruction being

irreversible. Unlike with forests, once human activity is no longer present, the plants and

animals can eventually move back into the region and overtake it again. Whereas with

wetlands, when humans move further along the coast, wetland marshes are filled in with

foreign materials to stabilize the soils and kill the native species. This is important for

ensuring the houses will not be as affected by rising flood levels, and also making sure

the houses don't sink into the soft, natural soils. Issue being that once that foreign soil is

places on top, it smothers the natural wetland bacteria and grasses that once existed

there, and shifts the type of environment it is. The region can only go back to being

wetland now once it has been underwater for a substantial amount of time.

This information is the reason now that most of the wetlands are protected and

require very important reasons or large amounts of money to be further developed on if

the property is not already owned. With that information, it is also why many coastal

houses are being forced to be lifted, as the rising sea levels are causing substantial

flooding on a much more common basis.

Table 1: Land use in Acres

Type Acres Acres Acres (2002) Acres Acres

(1986) (1995/97) (2007) (2012)

Wetlands 81103.52 83855.60 82167.15 81995.35 81761.40

Water 5020.37 112559.70 89095.43 89222.39 243702.21

ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 12

Urban 27175.50 29035.21 29683.64 31957.62 33650.77

Forests 38680.13 37907.57 37773.21 36674.29 35826.49

Barren Land 3783.62 3256.83 3189.56 3050.07 2757.76

Agriculture 9736.88 7483.38 7200.87 6480.25 5736.18

Figure 6​: Land use as of 2012 (left) and urban development between 1986 and 2012

(right)

Figure 6 shows the land use of Cape May in 2012 while also showing how much

of that land has been developed into urban areas over the past 26 years. It shows that a

lot of the development is being hindered by the large areas of wetlands through the

county. In the north, there is a massive forest with little development compared to the
ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 13

rest of the county. This is because Cape May is part of the pineland commission, and

the northern part of the county is being restricted from development in many areas.

Although the county is seeing urban development at the expense of agricultural, barren,

and forested lands, the urban development is expanding the already developed lands

rather than moving into the undeveloped regions of the county.

Table: 2

Source: NJDEP

Here (Table 2 and Figure 7) we look comparatively between 2002 and 2007 to see a

more modern growth period. This was the time of the housing boom, right before the

recession, which allowed many people to build housing developments around the

county. That is why we see a growth of nearly 1800 acres of urban development
ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 14

between that 5 year span. With nearly all of that coming from forest, agriculture and

barren land.

Figure 7: Cape May County Land Use

Discussion:

Land use in both New Jersey and Cape May County has been changing for

years, as New Jersey has been the most densely populated state, and is still growing,

with Cape May being no stranger to that. The growth in population has attributed to a

massively expanding urban development push within the already small county. With
ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 15

much of that land use coming from unused barren land being bought out by real estate

developers. Along with the building up and out of any open land along the coastline by

high end hotels and single family housing properties, the wetlands is privy to small

amounts of land loss. Urban land does not only prioritize easy land such as barren

fields, but also encroaches on forested lands, with large scale deforestation happening

on the interior of the county.

This is relatively inline with other counties, as most regions within New Jersey

are struggling with ways to adjust for their growing population in more populated regions

such as Newark or Trenton. “​In the Bailes versus Township of Brunswick case, the

township failed to present substantial evidence that the 2001 rezoning was necessary to

serve its stated purposes of recognition of environmental constraints and retention of

farmland” (Lawyor, 2006 Jan). With many people struggling to create more efficient

housing without the detriment of the environment, planning comes in very heavily for job

needs. This issue of rapidly expanding growth is felt with many struggling to decide

which land region is least crucial when implementing urbanization.

Pain is also being felt in regions of Central New Jersey where they are having

massive population explosions where they struggle to find areas to build in. This is often

due to the area already being so densely populated. Due to this, they often deforest the

surrounding wooded areas near the edge of the towns and build densely populated

building complexes. This is often regarded as the most environmental approach due to
ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 16

dense housing taking up less overall landmass which can help prevent widespread

population growth with habitat fragmentation.

Conclusion:

The overall consensus of Cape May County is that almost every achievable land

source is being depleted at a relatively alarming rate, and it is all in the name of

population growth. As more people move in we see that the rate growth even from 1986

to 2002 is nearly 2500 acres of land lost to urbanization. Now in the grand scheme of

counties, a very small percentage of land is being used to house people, but the overall

encroachment still equates to thousands of acres of land being destroyed in the name

of having your own slice of property. The rate of deforestation and agricultural land

destruction will end up having no more land to settle on if the trend continues in nearly

100 years. The rate of growth that humans are trending towards is a slippery slope

when looking at the grand spectrum of time, and due to this we need to strategically

plan our future developments within the state. The need to preserve agriculture and

forest land for the dampening of carbon dioxide will help aid in climate change for later

generations. The better we plan for today, the better we preserve for tomorrow.
ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 17

References

C. (2002). Cape May County Comprehensive Plan. Retrieved from

https://capemaycountynj.gov/DocumentCenter/View/422/Comprehensive-Plan-2002-PDF?bidId

Lathrop, R. G., & Bognar, J. A. (2016, December). Changing Landscapes in the Garden State.

Retrieved from

https://crssa.rutgers.edu/projects/lc/download/NJ_Urb_Growth_III_executive_summary_2012_L

athropHasse.pdf

Hasse, J., & Lathrop, R. (2010). ​Changing landscapes in the Garden State: Urban growth and

open space loss in NJ, 1986 thru 2007​. Glassboro: Geospatial Research Laboratory, Rowan

University.

NJGIN. (n.d.). Retrieved January 30, 2019, from ​https://njgin.state.nj.us/OGIS_IW/

NJDEP Land Use/Land Cover Level I Data Analysis, 2002-2007. (2010, March 11). Retrieved

January 30`, 2019, from

https://www.nj.gov/dep/gis/digidownload/metadata/lulc07/lulc2007stattablescounty.htm

Wu, S., Yarnal, B. M., & Fisher, A. (2002). ​Vulnerability of coastal communities to sea-level

rise: A case study of Cape May County, New Jersey, USA.​ Emmitsburg, MD: National

Emergency Training Center.

ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 18

Appendices

Figure 8: Aerial images of the New Brunswick, New Jersey area for 1995, 2002, 2007,

2012, and 2015

ANALYZING LAND USE IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 19

Figure 9: Aerial images of Toms River, New Jersey area for 1995, 2002, 2007, 2012,

and 2015.