Title: Identifying priority areas for reforestation using remote sensing and geographical information systems: a case study from Turkey

Authors: Sedat Keles; Alkan Günlü; Emin Zeki Baskent

Addresses: Faculty of Forestry, Çankiri Karatekin University, 18200, Çankiri, Turkey ' Faculty of Forestry, Çankiri Karatekin University, 18200, Çankiri, Turkey ' Faculty of Forestry, Karadeniz Technical University, 61080, Trabzon, Turkey

Abstract: This study uses Landsat 7 ETM and IKONOS satellite data to estimate the priority areas for reforestation in a forest management planning unit of Turkey. Three important parameters, crown closure, slope and soil moisture, were used to identify potential reforestation areas. The existing crown closure classes were obtained from the forest stand type map of the study area. Slope map of the study area was created using a digital elevation model (DEM) digitised from digital topographic maps. Supervised classification method was used to classify soil moistures from the images. 12 priority areas for reforestation were estimated with the help of combined maps for crown closure (degraded and treeless areas), slope and soil moisture classes. The results showed that approximately 47% of the study area, which is suitable for reforestation, was included in the category of degraded and treeless forest areas.

Keywords: forest management; geographic information systems; GIS; global warming; reforestation; remote sensing; climate change; biological diversity; Turkey; priority areas; forestry planning; crown closure; slope maps; soil moisture; satellite data.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2013.053486

International Journal of Global Warming, 2013 Vol.5 No.2, pp.109 - 126

Received: 11 Jul 2012
Accepted: 26 Aug 2012
Published online: 28 Feb 2014 *

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