Table 4. Percentage over- (positive values) or underrepresentation (negative values) of land cover in roadside buffers of three widths along roads on the southern Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee, compared to the land cover of the surrounding region for fine-resolution land cover data. Buffer width Land cover 1980 1990 1997 2000 2003 400 m Mature native forest –3.47 –6.11 –9.3 –6.29 –6.44 Residential/rural 64.24 96.28 76.04 71.75 60.22 Early-stage pine plantation –44.1 –31.21 –28.64 –42.89 –39.17 Middle-stage pine plantation –17.17 –80.23 –54.4 –43.78 –40.55 Mature pine plantation –30.78 –36.75 –36.75 –35.34 –35.45 Thinned native forest –4.32 –0.55 –2.48 –18.09 –23.26 200 m Mature native forest –9.01 –16.75 –16.32 –13.21 –14.08 Residential/rural 129.4 188.7 117.4 112.2 92.85 Early-stage pine plantation –56.24 –36.9 –41.28 –50.98 –44.59 Middle-stage pine plantation –23.44 –78.13 –65.19 –51.78 –49.6 Mature pine plantation –49.19 –44.87 –46.01 –43.03 –42.98 Thinned native forest 1.52 2.94 2.23 –23.68 –30.48 50 m Mature native forest –17.5 –25.41 –25.41 –22.22 –25.09 Residential/rural 223.5 265.7 171.4 164.9 137.4 Early-stage pine plantation –59.9 –25.8 –44.21 –50.89 –48.98 Middle-stage pine plantation –24.18 –55.39 –72.88 –62.61 –54.93 Mature pine plantation –54.18 –53.0 –52.9 –52.39 –54.01 Thinned native forest –18.86 –16.08 –18.11 –38.76 –42.54 Note: The percent cover of each land cover category in entire surrounding region (i.e., the surface of the southern Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee) in 2003 was: mature native forest, 59.3%; residential/rural, 19.0%; early-stage pine plantation, 5.5%; middle-stage pine plantation, 4.8%; mature pine plantation, 6.6%; thinned native forest, 4.8%. The proportion of the region covered by each of the three buffers was: 400-m buffer, 0.39; 200-m buffer, 0.23; 50-m buffer, 0.06. The total area of land cover analyzed was 248,500 ha.