Urban Dynamics: Agricultural Database

Patuxent River Watershed

The number of acres of agricultural land in the Patuxent Watershed reached its peak in the late 1800s. After the turn of the century the decline in agricultural land use was very dramatic. Between 1900 and 1940 one third of the land previously held in agriculture was gone. A greater rate of loss was experienced between 1940 and 1980. Since the 1980s, the amount of agricultural land is about one third of what it was during its peak in the late 1800s.

1850	1900
1953	1972
1982	1992

The following graph illustrates land use change relationships for the Patuxent Basin. Forest land values were determined to be the amount of land not classified as either urban or agriculture and therefore may not represent actual land cover.