Analysis of Forest Land-use and Vegetation in a Part of Central Himalaya, Using Aerial Photographs

Abstract

The forest canopy, biomass, and basal tree-trunk cover, of an area of about 200,000 ha, comprising 10 subcatchments in the Indian Central Himalaya, were mapped by employing aerial photographs and non-destructive field sampling. This method provides basic information on the current forest land-use and biomass for enlightened environmental planning and conservation. Regression equations developed to describe predictive relationships between crown-cover and basal tree-trunk cover; biomass and crown-cover; basal tree-trunk cover and bole biomass; and basal tree-trunk cover and total above-ground biomass, for different forests occurring in the area, should prove of value for future ecological studies in the Central Himalaya.