Lake Land Cover Maps

Land use within our watershed directly impacts the water quality of our lakes and ponds. Natural vegetative cover on our shorelines protects stream and lake water quality, provides important fish and wildlife habitat, and prevents land loss due to erosion.  Studies of Vermont's lake shorelines and reports from other states all agree that the first 100 feet of riparian buffer (land along stream banks, rivers, and lakes) is critical to our waterbodies.

Using high-resolution land cover data, the Vermont Agency of Digital Services and the Agency of Natural Resources created a set of maps for each inland lake in the state 10 acres or larger. The five maps include summaries of land cover for:

1. ​the 100-foot buffer that runs along both sides of the tributary streams into the lake combined with the 100-foot buffer along the lakeshore;
2. the 250-foot buffer around the lakeshore, the protected shoreland area under the Vermont Shoreland Protection Act;
3. the 100-foot buffer on each side of the tributaries draining into the lake;
4. the 100-foot buffer around the lakeshore; and
5. the entire watershed. 

Each map is accompanied by five summary graphs. The top one summarizes the overall base land cover. Below that graph are four graphs that further break down the land cover for:

• Impervious Surfaces (bare soil, buildings, other paved, roads and railroads);
• Agriculture (Crops, Hay and Pasture);
• Wetlands (Emergent, Forested, Shrub/Scrub);
• Tree Canopy (Coniferous and Deciduous).