Metla

National
Forest
Inventory

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Use of SAR (radar) data

 Imaging spectrometry

Dynamics of biodiversity

      Finnish [Finnish]
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The purpose of the National Forest Inventory is to continuously provide 
information about the state of the Finnish forests. The information is used 
for planning of future activities by the government, industry and the forest 
owners.


      
The traditional role of the National Forest Inventory                       
has been to provide unbiased, reliable large area forest resource information
covering the whole country and including computation of forest statistics.
The information has been utilized in large area forest management planning,
such as determining the level of cuttings and other treatments needed,
as the information basis of the official forest policy and in the strategic
planning of the forest industries.





The first inventory covering the entire Finland was carried out in 1921-24.The field work for the eighth successive inventory was carried oput in 1986-94. The latest, ninth inventory, was started in summer 1996, and will be completed in year 2000.


According to the inventory results, the growing stock has
increased noticeably during the last decades and is now larger than ever 
in the current century. The annual increment amounts to 75 million cubic meters, which is slighty 
less than in the previous inventory some five years earlier. The annual increment is about 20 million cubic meters higher than the 
the total annual drain - cuttings plus natural removals.
      
 New technology, satellite images and digital map data have made it possible 
        to produce small area estimates and to utilise the information also in 
        forest management planning at municipality level, as well as in operative 
        planning of forest industry. Professor Erkki Tomppo was awarded the 14th 
         Marcus Wallenberg prize 
        for his pathbreaking achievements within forest resource assessment, including, 
        e.g., the development of this new multi-source inventory system. 
      

Continous development of inventory methods belongs to the tasks of the project.
Examples of ongoing research include:

    

  1.  Planning of Inventory Design by Means of Satellite Image Based Theme Maps

  2.  Utilization of ERS-1 SAR Data in Large Area Forest Inventories

  3.  Imaging Spectrometry in Forest Inventory

  4.  The Dymamics of Biodiversity and Methods for its Assesment

  5.  Estimation of Accuracy of Multi-Suorce Inventory Estimates

  6.  Timber Scaling





The inventory group makes contract based forest resource inventories
and does consultance on inventory planning both in Finland and abroad.
Examples of target countries of foreign co-operation projects are
Sweden, Germany, New Zealand and China.





      
      

VKan, December 2000