Remote sensing in veg. mgt.

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• Subject: Remote sensing in veg. mgt.
• From: Doug Pitt <dougpitt@BSAOUSLED.FPMI.FORESTRY.CA>
• Date: Fri, 09 Dec 1994 14:21:53 -0800 (PST)
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Remote Sensing Applications in Forest Vegetation Management:
***********************************************************
 
At various stages following the harvesting of a given stand, data on 
vegetation composition and structure are needed for a variety of purposes, 
including:

  1)monitoring for forest policy compliance (e.g., determining the
    free-to-grow status of crop species), 
  2)development of operational silvicultural prescriptions for activities like 
    thinning and release, 
  3)objective evaluation of the success or failure of various silvicultural   
    treatments, 
  4)evaluation of species and structural diversity (e.g., for quantifying
    wildlife habitat)
  5)monitoring forest succession, and 
  6)assessment of spatial diversity at the forest and landscape levels.

The tools we use for data acquisition in forest vegetation management are 
still fairly primitive; the clip board and pick-up truck largely representing 
the current state of the art.  Although very powerful remote sensing 
technologies are available (e.g., aerial photography, satellite imagery, 
multi-spectral scanners, radar imagery, and high-resolution video), they have 
yet to be used to operational advantage in vegetation management.  On another 
front, GIS is a proven, powerful tool for handling and manipulating spatial 
data.

I've been asked to conduct a problem analysis which examines the potential for 
remote sensing technology to be applied to data acquisition problems in forest 
vegetation management.  The question I've been asked is "can we combine the 
data acquisition power of one or more of the remote sensing technologies with 
the data manipulation power of GIS to facilitate objective decision making in 
forest vegetation management?".

Does anyone have any thoughts or info that will help me get started on this?

Thanks in advance.
-------------------------------------
Name: Dr. Doug Pitt
Canadian Forest Service, Forest Pest Management Institute
P.O. Box 490, 1219 Queen St. E.
Sault Ste. Marie, ON.  P6A 5M7
(705)759-5740 ext 2453
(705)759-5700 fax
E-mail: dougpitt@BSAOUSLED.FPMI.FORESTRY.CA (Doug Pitt)

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