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- 1553 -
where only major arterials aligning commercial strips could be detected.
Where relief was less extreme and forest typlified by scrub and regrowth
more of the transportation network was detected. Although forest and
topographic relief posed similar problems in the western portion of
Study Area II the effect was not as dramatic owing somewhat to a less
dense road/rail network and less vegetation. In the eastern half of
Study Area II the transportation network was much more visible. The
periodic, regular, grid network was easily detected on the radar imagery.
Often lined by trees, roads also contrasted with the level to rolling
terrain and cultivated fields.
In summary, it is readily apparent that changes in physical and
cultural land use components employed in other areas of the country were
not only subtle and limited in number but less useful in the Northeast.
Work in the West and Midwest indicated these parameters were indeed
viable keys in assessing land use patterns. While such characteristics
were still an asset to analysis,the effect of environmental modulation
had markedly lessened their effectiveness. Several reasons attribute to
this inconsistency. The individual elements of the Northeast landscape
were much more fragmented and complex than the Midwest and West, and at
the same time they were fewer in number. Consequently, there was so
much "noise" and lack of continuity that only one or two major patterns
emerged. The similarity of climate and available moisture over the
region also tended to reduce variation in land use practices. Certainly
the difference in time and length of settlement contributed to observed
differences between areas. The Northeast was settled at a time when
technology, machinery, and industry were more primitive than when the
areas further west were developed. The lack of a uniform township and
range grid pattern of land ownership and transportation location added
another dimension to the Northeast's complexity.
However, as important as these environmental conditions were in
explaining inconsistencies it is suggested that forest vegetation was
the overriding environmental factor contributing to the variation in
amount of land use information available from radar imagery. In the
Northeast study area stands of forest or woodland were found on virtually
all land not cultivated or urbanized. Forests concealed many topographic
elements. In more arid areas and those more extensively cultivated
(Study Area II) riparian vegetation delineated much of the drainage
network and surrounded wetlands. In the Northeast such vegetation simply
merged with the surrounding forest. A lack of vegetation varieties com-
pared to the West and the dominance of hardwood/softwood mixtures
instead of detectable single specie or dominant specie stands produced
only a single pattern unless detailed analysis were to be conducted by
vegetation experts. Field sizes and shapes were somewhat affected by
topography, but the presence of woodlots, scrub regrowth in abandoned
fields, and lumbering activities interspersed with random-sized and
shaped fields did not particularly add clarity.
Settlement and transportation network visibility was also diminished
by the presence of forests and trees. Settlements were concealed by
tree canopy which also masked the street network and bright (high) signal
return of many commercial activities. In the Midwest and West trees were
characteristically concentrated around farmsteads as windbreaks or in
urban residential areas. For the most part the surrounding area was void
Tr