GIS and remote sensing methods for mapping forests: Lessons from the Western Oregon Vegetation Mapping Project

Doug R. Oetter 1 , Warren B. Cohen 2 , Thomas K. Maiersperger 2 , Maria Fiorella 3

Georgia College & State University (1)
USDA Forest Service (2)
Pacific Meridian Resources (3)

As part of a NASA Land-Cover Land-Use Change program studying forest dynamics and carbon flux, several procedures for mapping land cover and biophysical variables were developed. Based on the acquisition and development of ground reference plots in a GIS and the analytical interpretation of multiple satellite images, the procedures allowed regional-scale mapping of forest cover over multiple time periods. Specific products included digital raster images of land use cover, forest cover, conifer forest age, and forest stand-replacement disturbance over 28 years. While the methodologies were developed for the forests of western Oregon, the techniques should be applicable to forests throughout the world, so long as field-based inventories, aerial photographs, and satellite imagery is available.

Keywords: forest cover mapping, land cover change, remote sensing, GIS

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