Acres of Irrigated Land, 1987

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Description

This dot density map shows the distribution of irrigated cropland and pastureland in 1987. Dots are aggregated by and placed randomly within 8-digit hydrologic units. Each green dot represents 15,000 acres of irrigated land. Areas with 95% or more Federal area are shaded gray. There are 67,073,100 acres of irrigated land in the U.S.

Cautions for this Product:
This map may not be used to determine site- specific information. Within an 8-digit hydrologic unit, dot counts represent acreage totals correctly plus or minus one dot to account for remainders. Irrigation data are only collected from cropland and pastureland. Data are not collected on Federal land. Data are not available for Alaska or the Pacific Basin. Data for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are aggregated by 6-digit hydrologic unit.

Sources

Source: National Resources Inventory, 1997
Distributor: USDA-NRCS-RIAD
Reliability:
NRI sample data are generally reliable at the 95% confidence interval for state and certain broad substate area analyses. Generally, analyses that aggregate data points by smaller geographic areas and/or more specific criteria result in fewer data points for each aggregation and therefore less reliable estimates. NRI maps reflect national patterns rather than site- specific information.

Layers

Aggregate Layer: 8 Digit Hydrologic Unit Areas with Federal Land
Other Layers Displayed: States, Rivers

Definitions

Cropland:
A Land cover/use category that includes areas used for the production of adapted crops for harvest. Two subcategories of cropland are recognized: cultivated and noncultivated. Cultivated cropland comprises land in row crops or close-grown crops and also other cultivated cropland, for example, hayland or pastureland that is in a rotation with row or close-grown crops. Noncultivated cropland includes permanent hayland and horticultural cropland. [NRI-97]

Hydrologic units:
A hierarchical system developed by the U.S. Geological Survey that divides the United States and the Caribbean into 21 major regions, 222 subregions, 352 accounting units, and further subdivided into 2,150 cataloging units that delineate river basins having drainage areas usually greater than 700 square miles. [USGS]

Irrigated land:
Land that shows evidence of being irrigated during the year of the inventory or during two or more years out of the last four years. Water is supplied to crops by ditches, pipes, or other conduits. Water spreading is not considered irrigation; it is recorded as a conservation practice. [NRI-97]

Pastureland and Native Pasture:
A Land Cover/Use category of land managed primarily for the production of introduced or native forage plants for livestock grazing. Pastureland may consist of a single species in a pure stand, a grass mixture or a grass-legume mixture. Management usually consists of cultural treatments-fertilization, weed control, reseeding, or renovation and control of grazing. (For the NRI, includes land that has a vegetative cover of grasses, legumes, and/or forbs, regardless of whether or not it is being grazed by livestock.) [NRI-97]

Product Information

Product ID: 5756
Production Date: 1/29/01
Product Type: Map

For additional information contact the Resources Inventory and Assessment Division. Please include the Product ID you are inquiring about. nri@wdc.usda.gov or 1400 Independence Avenue SW - P.O. Box 2890 - Washington D.C. 20013. If you use our analysis products, please be aware of our disclaimer.