Vol. 10, Special Issue 1 (2021)

Author(s):
Lakhan Lal Mahato, Mukesh Kumar, Jai Kumar, Satyendra Nath and Deepak Lal

Abstract:
Forest cover and its fragmentation need to be assessed regularly for sustainable management of natural resources. In this study forest cover change and its fragmentation based on forest cover classifications derived from remotely sensed images. The study assesses the temporal changes of forest-cover maps from 1987 and 2019 using ArcGIS and FRAGSTATS. Visual interpretation technique involving on screen digitization was used for mapping and assesses the change statistics. In addition, FRAGSTAT was carried out to find the landscape matrix. Results showed that dense forest covers around 21.64% of study area in year 1987 which has decrease to become 18.90% in year 2019. It has also been observed that number of patches for dense forest increase from 116 to 226 and open forest increased from 161 to 446 between 1987 and 2019.This work demonstrates change in forest structure and pattern using geospatial technology which is cost effective and less time consuming.