Balancing development and forest conservation: the impact of Maryland's Forest Conservation Act on spatial configuration of forest and housing

We use a unique dataset of land parcels and forest cover, before and after subdivision development, to examine outcomes of Maryland's Forest Conservation Act (FCA). Focusing on the spatial configuration of homes and forests, we compare subdivisions created before and after FCA implementation in 1993. We found minimal impacts of FCA on forest outcomes we considered: houses were as likely to be built in forest before and after FCA, and forest metrics showed increasing fragmentation with development unchanged by FCA regulation. However, the FCA led to a greater proportion of forest located away from houses after development. Other regulatory efforts, particularly zoning and riparian buffer regulations, were consistently related to outcomes we studied. FCA has been successful in preserving forest cover, but a stronger emphasis on connectivity and conservation of large forest patches, particularly for parcels with extensive forest cover, will be helpful in reducing fragmentation and disturbance with development.