Landscape Consequences of Natural Gas Extraction in Cameron, Clarion, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, McKean, Potter, and Warren Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004-2010.

摘要

This document quantifies the landscape changes and consequences of natural gas extraction for Cameron, Clarion, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, McKean, Potter, and Warren Counties in Pennsylvania between 2004 and 2010. Patterns of landscape disturbance related to natural gas extraction activities were collected and digitized using National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery for 2004, 2005/2006, 2008, and 2010. The disturbance patterns were then used to measure changes in land cover and land use using the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) of 2001. A series of landscape metrics is also used to quantify these changes and is included in this publication. In this region, natural gas and oil development disturbed approximately 5,255 hectares (ha) (conventional, 2,400 ha; Marcellus, 357 ha; and oil, 1,883 ha) of land of which 3,507 ha were forested land and 610 ha were agricultural land. Eighty percent of that total disturbance was from conventional natural gas and oil development.