Land Use & Forests
Land use and forest cover on TerraPulse are organized into two Yeardexes — the
landuse Yeardex and the forest_cover Yeardex. One slot per year, each a
measured national record of how much land is in crops, pasture, and forest, drawn from
the USDA and the World Bank. No estimates, no projections.
The dexes
Each dex holds one slot per year of measured record. Counts are live and grow as new annual figures are published:
| Dex | Holds | Years |
|---|---|---|
landuse | USDA major-land-use area, by year | 16 |
forest_cover | World Bank national forest area, by year | 34 |
Provenance
Land-use area comes from the USDA Economic Research Service, which accounts for U.S. land in cropland, pasture, forest, and other uses. Forest cover comes from the World Bank Open Data indicators, which compile national forest area from member-country reporting. Each source is registered against its dex, so any yearly record carries a direct line back to the originating release.
What’s in a record
Each year slot carries:
- Year — the reporting year
- Land-use area — acres by category (cropland, pasture, forest, other)
- Forest area — total forested land, in square kilometers or share of land
- Region — national scope, with country identifiers where applicable