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The Center was awarded a $380,000 grant in 2005 from the USDA’s National Research Initiative for Rural Development. The grant allows CLUE to document and analyze the long-term trends in land subdivision in a set of rural Wisconsin communities. CLUE staff will also be working with local planning committees and agencies to jointly develop strategies for managing the unintended negative consequences of land subdivision, or parcelization.  

The project, titled “Factors influencing land parcelization in amenity rich rural areas and the potential consequences of planning and policy variables”, will focus on rural communities where parcelization has the potential to be a major issue. These are most likely communities rich in lakes and forestland, where subdividing land for recreational and retirement use is common.

Last year CLUE researchers sought partner communities interested in the project. We chose to work with Bayfield and Columbia counties. Both counties have a fairly robust GIS system already in place, as well as some participation in comprehensive planning. Bayfield County is representative of the state’s forest and lake regions and Columbia County is more agricultural in nature. Analysis of parcel maps began in 2006, and the entire project will be completed by 2009.

This project was supported by the National Research Initiative of the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, USDA, Grant #2005-35401-15924.