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Research

Most of my recent research has focused on land use and land cover change in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  The watershed is large, and covers parts of six states  and the District of Columbia.  Despite gains made in regulating pollutants from point-sources, such as waste water treatment plants, water quality in the Chesapeake Bay estuary has continued to decline--in great part due to land use activities occurring in the 167,000 square kilometer watershed.

In particular, I have focused on urban land cover change.  At fine scales I have examined the evolution of suburbs in the Washington, DC area using air photos that date from the 1930s to the present day.  Maps of the built environment derived from satellite imagery are also available for 1990 and 2000 for the whole watershed, providing a synoptic view of change over a large area.

Before coming to Shippensburg University, I worked at the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC), located on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and I continue to work closely with WHRC scientists on land cover change in the Mid-Atlantic and Cape Cod.  The WHRC website features several pages describing our work in the Chesapeake, as well as many relevant publications.

Active Projects

Mronzinski, M., C. A. Jantz, E. de Coulstoun and D. Forney (2006). Forecasting Land Use Change in Pike & Wayne Counties, PA. Pennsylvania DCNR Community Conservation Partnership Program Grants. $25,000.

Goetz, S.J., S.D. Prince, N. Bockstael, R. Holmes, T. Stone and C. Jantz (2005-2008). Urban growth impacts on surface hydrology in mid-Atlantic and New England watersheds. NASA Energy- and Water-Cycle Sponsored Research (NEWS) NRA, Land Cover and Land Use Change Program. $570,000.

Goetz, S.J. and C.A. Jantz (co-investigator) (2004-2006).  Modeling the rates and spatial patterns of future land use change in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  Chesapeake Bay Program, US Environmental Protection Agency. $100,000.

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