UNIT 5

FOREST MANAGEMENT
Forest Taxonomy
• Classification of Forests- On Administration-Basis
Classification as per Constitution of India
Merchantability

Based on Composition
Based on Average Annual Rainfall
• Tropical Evergreen Forests
Moist Evergreen Forests:
• Region: Found in southern India along the Western Ghats, Andaman and
Nicobar Islands and north-eastern region.
• Climatic Conditions: Found in warm and humid areas with an annual
precipitation of over 200 cm and mean annual temperature above 22°C.
• Trees: In these forests, trees reach great heights up to 60 m or above.
• There is no definite time for trees to shed their leaves, flowering and
fruition; these forests appear green all the year round.
• Species found in these forests include Rosewood, Mahogany, Aini,
Ebony, etc.
• The more common trees that are found here are the jackfruit, betel
nut palm, jamun, mango, and hollock.
Based on Average Annual Rainfall
• Tropical Evergreen Forests
Semi Evergreen Forests:
• Region: Found in the less rainy parts of the regions where moist evergreen
forests are found; Western Ghats, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and the
Eastern Himalayas.
• Trees: Such forests have a mixture of moist evergreen and moist deciduous
trees.
• The under growing climbers provide an evergreen character to these forests.
• Main species are white cedar, hollock and kail.
Dry evergreen:
• Region: Found in the Shivalik Hills and foothills of the Himalayas up to a height of
1000 metres in the north.
• Found along Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka coast in the south.
• Climatic Conditions: Usually have a prolonged hot and dry season and a cold winter.
• Trees: Have mainly hard-leaved evergreen trees with fragrant flowers, along with a
few deciduous trees.
• Trees have a varnished look.
• Some of the more common ones are the pomegranate, olive, and oleander.
 Based on Average Annual Rainfall
• Tropical Deciduous Forests (Monsoon Forests)
Moist Deciduous Forests:
• Region: These forests are found in the north-eastern states along the foothills of Himalayas,
eastern slopes of the Western Ghats and Odisha.
• Rainfall: Found in the regions which record rainfall between 100-200 cm.
• Trees: Tall trees with broad, branched trunks.
• Some of the taller trees shed their leaves in the dry season.
• Teak, sal, shisham, hurra, mahua, amla, semul, kusum, and sandalwood etc. are the main species of
these forests.
Dry Deciduous Forests:
• Region: Found throughout the northern part of the country except in the north-east.
• Also found in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.
• Rainfall: Covers vast areas of the country, where rainfall ranges between 70 -100 cm.
• On the wetter margins, it has a transition to the moist deciduous, while on the drier margins to thorn
forests.
• Trees: As the dry season begins, the trees shed their leaves completely and the forest appears
like a vast grassland with naked trees all around.
• Tendu, palas, amaltas, bel, khair, axlewood, etc. are the common trees of these forests.
Thorn Forests
• Rainfall: The forests occur in the areas that receive annual rainfall less than 50cm.
• Regions: This type is found in areas with black soil: North, West, Central, and South
India.
• Includes semi-arid areas of south west Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and
Uttar Pradesh.
• Trees: The trees do not grow beyond 10 metres and consist of a variety of grasses and
shrubs. Spurge, caper, and cactus are typically found in this region.
• The plants remain leafless for most part of the year.
• Babul, Acacia, Kokko, Khair, Khajuri, Ber, Neem, Khejri, Palas, etc.are common species of the
forests.
Montane Forests
• Montane Wet Temperate Forests:
• Region: Occur in the northern and southern India.
• In the North, it is found in the region to the east of Nepal into Arunachal Pradesh, at a height of 1800–3000
metres, receiving a minimum rainfall of 200 cm.
• In the South, it is found in parts of the Nilgiri Hills, the higher reaches of Kerala.
• Trees: The forests in the northern region are denser than in the South.
• This is because over time the original trees have been replaced by fast-growing varieties such as the
eucalyptus.
• Rhododendrons, Champa and a variety of ground flora can be found here.
Montane Subtropical Forests:
• Climatic Conditions: Found in the region where average rainfall is 100-200 cm and
temperature varies between 15°C to 22°C.
• Region: Found in north-western Himalayas (except Ladakh and Kashmir), Himachal
Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Trees: Chir (Pine) is the main tree but Oak, Jamun and Rhododendron are also found in
these forests.
Himalayan Forests:
• Himalayan Moist Forests:
• Region: Found in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and northern hilly parts of
Bengal.
• Elevation: Found in the belt where altitude varies between 1000-2000 m.
• Trees: Oak, chestnut, chir, sal, shrubs and nutritious grasses.
• Himalayan Dry Temperate:
• Region: J&K, Chamba, Lahaul & Kinnaur districts (Himachal Pradesh) and Sikkim.
• Trees: Mainly coniferous; deodar, oak, chilgoza, maple, olive, mulberry and willow.
Alpine and Subalpine Forests:
• Elevation: In the higher reaches, there is a transition to Alpine forests and pastures
occurring at altitudes of 2,500-4,000 m.
• Sub alpine forests extend from Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh between 2900 to 3500 metres.
• Trees: In the Western Himalayas, the vegetation consists mainly of juniper,
rhododendron, willow, and black currant.
• In the eastern parts, red fir, black juniper, birch, and larch are the common trees.
Littoral/Swamp Forests
• Region: Found along the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the delta area of
the Ganga and the Brahmaputra.
• Other areas of significance are the Mahanadi, the Godavari and the Krishna deltas.
• Trees: Some of these forests are dense and impenetrable. Only a limited
number of plants are found in these evergreen forests.
• They have roots that consist of soft tissue so that the plant can breathe in the water.
• It consists mainly of whistling pines, mangrove dates, palms, and bulletwood.
• The total geographical area of the State is
130,058 km2 which constitutes 3.96%
geographical area of the country. It lies
between 8°05' N - 13°35' N latitude and
76°15' - 80020' E longitude.
• Physiographically, the state can be divided
into four major regions namely, Coastal
Plains, Eastern Ghats, Central Plateau and
Higher Elevation Mountains.
• The south-west monsoon feeds the plateau
and the retreating north-east monsoon
brings rain to the east coast. The
temperature in state ranges from 2°c in the
hills to 45°c in other areas. The average
rainfall ranges from 925 mm to 1,170 mm.
Importance of forests at the national level
• Forests are a major factor of environmental conservation and control
extremes of heat and cold, rendering the climate more equable. This effect
is particularly marked on the main continental land masses within the
tropics as in the north Indian plains where during the long dry seasons the
hot dry surface transfers heat energy to the wind.
• The denuded, over grazed and over-cropped areas in such situations
increase the desiccation of land immediately downwind. In such
circumstances, forests have an appreciable effect on the climate. Forests
also tend to increase the relative humidity of the air and retard
evaporation. In this way forests afford protection to animals and crops
against strong, cold or hot and dry winds, and rays of the sun and prevent
desiccation and vegetative retrogression.
• Forests tend to increase local precipitation, atleast to the extent of
increasing the number of rainy days. Forests enrich the soil with fallen
leaves and debris and increase its depth, porosity and water storage
capacity.
• In hilly terrains, forests regulate the water supply, feeding springs in dry
weather, promoting a perennial instead of a seasonal stream flow and
tending to prevent sudden and violent rises of water during rains and
floods.
Importance of forests at the national level
• Forests help to prevent soil erosion, landslips, shifting sands and
silting up and consequent overflowing of rivers, thus reducing the
dangers of floods. On level ground, forests have a draining action; the
clearing of forests on wet land increases its swampiness, which in arid
regions it may increase the salinity of streams.
• Forests supply timber, fuel, pulpwood and other varied products,
which in turn support major industrial activity in various sectors and
provide large-scale employment.
• Finally, forests are the home of wildlife, and afford important
aesthetic and tourist values. They have vital biological importance
because of the floral and fauna associated with them.
 IMPORTANCE OF TREES
Trees form important links in the earth's geological,
chemical, and hydrological cycles by:
• Taking in CO2 and releasing oxygen;
• Releasing carbon and mineral elements such as
nitrogen and phosphorus (important in plant growth)
as they decay;
• Absorbing moisture for growth and releasing it as
vapor through transpiration;
• Preventing erosion by reducing the force of rainfall at
the soil surface and by intercepting and absorbing
water, rather than allowing it to run off directly;
• Harboring a diversity of wildlife;
• Acting as windbreaks;
• Providing us with shade and beauty on a largely
agricultural and urban landscape.
DEFORESTATION
• Deforestation is defined as the destruction of forested land. It has proved to be a
major problem all over world. However, the rates of destruction of forests are
particularly high in the tropics.
• Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forested land, for uses
such as: pasture, urban use, logging purposes, and can result in arid land and
wastelands.
• Causes
The causes of deforestation vary form place to place. The most common causes are
unscientific logging, agricultural expansion, wars, mining,conversion of forest areas
for other purposes and urbanisation.
• Effects
Deforestation has been the cause of many problems facing the world today such as
erosions, loss of biodiversity leading to extinction of plant and animal species,
increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and global warming.
AFFORESTATION & REFORESTATION
• Afforestation is the process of establishing a forest on land that is not
a forest, or has not been a forest for a long time by planting trees or
their seeds. The term may also be applied to the legal conversion of
land into the status of royal forest.
• The term reforestation generally refers to the reestablishment of the
forest after its removal, or planting more trees for example from a
timber harvest. Since the industrial revolution many countries have
experienced centuries of deforestation, and some governments and
non-governmental organisations directly engage in programs of
afforestation to restore forests and assist in preservation of
biodiversity.
Technologies- Forest Type and Density
Mapping
• Imaging
• Photogrammetry
• Radar
• Hyperspectral
• LiDAR
What can be studied?
• Biomass (where’s the carbon?)
• Wood volume (when can we take it to the bank?)
• Presence (has something removed it?)
• Productivity (how much biological activity?)
• Fire mapping (where? how bad?)
• Map habitat (where can critters live?)
• Composition (what kinds of trees?)
• Structure (what condition? how old?)
Map by
• Space – where?
• Time – change?
RS Applications in Forest Monitoring
• Area under forest / tree cover
• Crown cover / density class of forests
• Forest Type / Vegetation Type Mapping
• Forest monitoring for afforestation,
deforestation, encroachment
• Sampling frame for Growing Stock / TOF assessment
• Forest Biodiversity (at Landscape Level)
• Forest Fire (risk zonation, monitoring, burnt
area,)
• Wildlife Management Inputs
• Watershed development, action plans monitoring
• Biomass mapping Carbon Assessment
Biomass Estimation
• Forests resources play an important role in mitigating climate change
by sequestering carbon in their biomass.
• Biomass (B) is an assessment of how much living tissue mass is
present in a population at one point in time. The health and
environmental conditions of a forest ecosystem are reflected in
biomass.
• Biomass estimation and mapping is a key element of global climate
change impact assessment, carbon stock quantification, site
suitability for bioprocessing plants, investigating the terrestrial
ecosystem's carbon cycle, and assessing fuel energy for forest fires.
• To quantify ecosystem biomass, three distinct remote sensing
methods have emerged: passive optical, RADAR, and LIDAR. Several
more measurement methodologies exist, ranging from application-
driven to technologically cutting-edge.
Biomass - Optical Remote sensing
• Due to its high global coverage,
consistency, and cost-effectiveness,
optical remote sensing is likely to be
the best choice for biomass
estimation via field sampling.
• Optical Remote Sensing data is
available on a variety of platforms,
including IKONOS, Quickbird,
Worldview, SPOT, Sentinel, Landsat,
and MODIS.
Biomass - Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
• SAR is a type of active data collection in which a sensor generates its energy and then
measures how much of that energy is reflected after interacting with the Earth.
• By its ability to penetrate clouds and provide detailed vegetation metadata, radar remote
sensing has attracted considerable attention in recent years for terrestrial biomass estimation.
• While airborne SAR systems are in use for many years, space-borne systems such as Terra-SAR,
ALOS, and PALSAR are used.
• Optical sensors have major drawbacks, particularly in tropical regions, such as cloud cover,
which SAR can resolve, as well as identifying the target saturation and penetration.
• C, S, and L-band data is more appropriate to estimate the Above Ground Biomass.
Light Detection and Ranging
(LiDAR)
• LiDAR is the latest technology that
has gained prominence in biomass
estimation. It can study the
vertical distribution of canopy and
ground substrates and provide
detailed structural information
regarding vegetation and more
precise estimates of basal area,
crown size, tree height, and stem
volume.
Applications of Biomass Estimation
Forest canopy height modeling
• Canopy height is the distance between the top
of the canopy and the ground. If signals from
the surface and vegetation are being
differentiated in the aspect of vegetation, the
relative heights above the ground of forest
canopies can be determined.
• Even though suitable stem diameter and
canopy formation are required to maintain
three dimensions, vegetation height is
proportional to the volume and thus biomass.
Applications of Biomass Estimation
Stand level analysis
• This analysis predicts main stand
dimensions like top height, canopy cover,
tree density, basal area, and volume. The
existing features allow forest variables like
biomass to be interpreted effectively
through the use of LIDAR measurements,
and this analysis is to be executed along
with all big forest areas where LIDAR
scope exists.
Applications of Biomass Estimation
• Forests sequester carbon
by capturing carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere and transforming
it into biomass through
photosynthesis.
• Sequestered carbon is then
accumulated in the form of
biomass, deadwood, litter and in
forest soils.
Forest Fire
Wildfire Case Studies and Tools
 • When a ground resolution element
Species level identification contains several materials, all these
materials contribute to the individual pixel
spectrum measured by the sensor. The
result is a composite or mixed spectrum,
and the “pure” spectra that contribute to
the mixture are
called endmember spectra.
• Spectral mixture analysis (SMA) is a sub-
pixel classification technique which could
be used to unmixed the soil-plant canopy
measurements into the respective soil,
vegetation and non-photosynthetic
vegetation.
Endmember for Image Classification
• Ideally, an endmember is defined as a
spectrally unique, idealized and pure
signature of a surface material. Extraction
of consistent and desired endmember is
one of the important criteria to achieve the
high accuracy of hyperspectral data
classification and spectral unmixing.
• Endmember extraction is the process of
selecting a collection of pure signature
spectra of the materials present in a
remotely sensed hyperspectral scene.
These pure signatures are then used to
decompose the scene into abundance
fractions by means of a spectral unmixing
algorithm.
Sustainable Forest Management