ENVIRONMENTAL PROFILE | CHAPTER 3
Table 3.1 - Cur rent land cover in the Cedar Fal ls comprehensi ve planning area Generalized Land Cover Type
Acres Developed
Planted Vegetation (e.g., cropland) Forests (including forested wetlands) Woodlands Shrublands Grasslands
Emergent Wetland Open Water Total
ECOLOGICAL CONTEXT
Over the last 150 years, significant alteration of the landscape for agricultural pro- duction, urban and suburban development, and commercial activity led to habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation. Some of the original ecosystem services, such as water filtration by wetlands and water infiltration by prairies, have diminished as a result of land use changes. Iowa’s Wildlife Action Plan has documented that lack of habitat, fragmentation of habitat (break-up into small, isolated pieces), and loss of connections between habitats are the most serious issues for Iowa’s upland wild- life statewide.1
erosion, sedimentation, eutrophication, invasive species, and loss of riparian habi- tat. While aquatic habitat has been directly altered, most of the changes to aquatic habitat resulted from changes to upland habitat.
Cedar Falls is located along the Cedar River, just northwest of Waterloo. These two cities constitute a moderately large urban area within Iowa’s largely agricultural landscape (Figure 3.1). The Cedar River and Black Hawk Creek corridors support large riparian forest areas and other natural habitats.
The current land cover in the Cedar Falls planning area (i.e., Project Boundary in fig- ures) is predominantly developed and agricultural (Table 3.1). Unlike land use map- ping used in planning, land cover mapping is used for natural resource inventory and assessment.
Natural vegetation in and around Cedar Falls is largely confined to the river and stream floodplains and adjacent steep slopes. This vegetation is part of a large habi- tat block (2,000-5,000 acres) recognized in the Iowa Wildlife Action Plan as one of only eight such blocks in the Iowan Surface region. It extends from Shell Rock Ac- cess and Thunder Woman County Parks downstream to several parks scattered in the bottomlands near downtown Cedar Falls; Black Hawk, Ulrich, Island, Tourist, Pe- ter Melendy and Cedar City Parks are all in the southern portion of this large habitat block.
1
http://www.iowadnr.gov/Environment/WildlifeStewardship/IowaWildlifeActionPlan.aspx 49
7,796.8 9,453.9 1,616.0 0.0 0.0
3,410.9 77.8
547.7 22,903.1
Percent of Planning Area 34.0%
41.3% 7.1% 0.0% 0.0%
14.9% 0.3% 2.4%
100%
For aquatic species in streams, rivers and lakes, the prime issues are
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