"Approximately 60% of Virginia is located inside the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and those communities now have access to an updated map that shows precisely how their landscapes are changing over time.

The Chesapeake Bay Program’s land use and land cover change mapping project compares the landscape across three different snapshots in time, offering a detailed view of the watershed up to as recently as 2021.

The research shows Virginia has lost nearly 50,000 acres of tree canopy in its portion of the watershed to development over just seven years.

The publically-available mapping project 'empowers people with information that they can use to make longer term and more sustainable land-use decisions,' said Peter Claggett, research geographer with the U.S. Geological Survey and lead for the Chesapeake Bay Program land data team.

'Overall, it enables you, down to a community level, to identify opportunities for restoration and conservation and for everyone to gain a perspective about how their community is changing over time,' Claggett said.

The most significant change to the landscape between 2014 and 2021 that researchers hope to highlight with the data was a rapid loss of tree canopy and forests due to human development. . ."