GIS technology in forest management planning

of use GIS in the forest complex
The main groups of GIS-users
GIS-software
GIS technology in forest management planning
Modern trends in the development of GIS in the forest complex

Content

automated systems (before GIS). 1980-1990s.
Introduction of GIS-technologies in forest management production. Late1990s-2006.
Extension of the range of GIS tasks, taking into account changes in forest legislation. From 2007 to the present.

1. The use of GIS-technologies in the Russian forestry complex

research (modeling of growth of stands, processing and storage of sample plot data for scientists); automation of planning (processing and presentation of forest management information for forest managers); automation of forest management (material and financial evaluation of cutting areas, production management and technological processes for forestry engineers and foresters).
The main consumers of automated system in forestry were research and project institutes, ministries of forestry, forest management enterprices, forestry committees in the republics, universities and technical schools.

Introduction of automated systems

of forest maps, formation of geoinformation databases of forest inventory, forest management planning)
Development and implementation of the system of continuous forest management in the practice of forestry (based on periodic updating of the geoinformation database). Continuous forest management was carried out in forest districts with intensive economic activities and the need for continuous updating of forest management information. GIS-technologies allowed to update cartographic and thematic data after felling, reforestation, fires, changes in borders and other changes without significant costs.
Use of GIS-technologies for forest management (forest districts, committees, departments of forestry). The main tasks to be solved are the search for information in forest inventory databases, processing of log materials, the formation of documents and reports.

Introduction of GIS-technologies in forest management production

legislation (after 2006) - state inventory of forests, cadastre, forest inventory.
Gradual integration of forestry GIS with other modern information technologies, software and hardware (processing of remote sensing materials of the Earth, modeling of relief, Internet technologies, geo-positioning, use of mobile devices)

Extension of the range of GIS tasks, taking into account changes in forest legislation

of share of the manual labor for office forest inventory works (making maps and databases, data processing)
Improvement of the processes of data conservation and processing
Increasing of quality and precision of forest maps
Improvement a visualization of results of inventory and forest planning
Improvement processes of comparing of data, getting of spatial characteristics, estimation of forestry, analysis of connected databases for decision of the tasks of the forest management and planning

Forest policy, Forest inventory and planning…

and GIS

Forest ecosystems are complex systems containing interconnected elements (trees, ecological groups, layers, landscapes units…)
Forest ecosystems are spatial objects that important for them inventory and planning
Execution a modern demands to forest management and planning means a greatly growth a volumes of information about forests (for sustainable forestry, state forest inventory, monitoring of forest ecosystems, certification…),

management enterprises
Companies – leaseholders
Administrations of nature reserves and national parks

The main groups of GIS-users

part of country, have been used several GIS-complexes.
GIS-technologies are used for making GIS-databases and forest management planning.

GIS-software

management enterprises (36 branches, about 3500 employers).
In different regions of country are used different GIS-complexes and different technologies for creating databases. Regions differ significantly (according to natural, economic conditions, volumes and types of forest use, availability of forests, intensity of forestry, percentage of forests leased). Therefore, the objectives of forest management, solved using GIS, in different regions differ too.
Developers of GIS for forest management generally create additional modules for forestry, planning of logging sites and processing of logging site materials

The features of Russian forest management GIS

forest inventory

WinGIS) for making and visualization of forest maps and special application for processing attributive data.
Most of the analytical functions of GIS remain unclaimed.
Software for forestry, as a rule, is a cheaper and simplified version of programs for forest management
A single universal software product for solving problems of forest management and forestry does not exist

The features of Russian forest management GIS

of forest inventory information WinPLP (Sevzaplesproekt, RF)

used in the educational process at the Department of forest inventory, management and GIS

RF, 2006)
1. Forest management planning shall include:
1) planning of forest districts and forest parks;
2) planning of production forests, protection forests, reserve forests and special protection parcels of forests;
…
5) inventory of stands (identification, recording , and assessment of forest resource qualitative and
quantitative characteristics);
6) planning of forest protection and renewal activities.

5. GIS technology in forest management planning

be use at each stage)

Forest inventory for management.
Classification of forests (division of forests into categories with different regimes, limits and targets of uses)
Accounting for the powers of Public authorities of the RF, Subjects of the RF in the Area of Forest Relations (setting up reforestation rules, rates of payment, wood harvesting rules…)
Forest Management Planning (development of Forest plans, Forest management regulation, forest development plan)
Use of forest resources on practice

along roads should be 250 м
Width of water protection forests along rivers 50 м

определяется их Положением.
Заготовка древесины. В защитных лесах не допускается заготовка древесины в спелых и перестойных насаждениях, но допускается заготовка древесины в средневозрастных, приспевающих, спелых и перестойных лесах при рубках ухода (за исключением лесов, выполняющих функции защиты природных и иных объектов), а так же при санитарных рубках и прочих рубках.
Заготовка живицы. Заготовка живицы не допускается в очагах вредных организмов до их ликвидации; насаждениях, поврежденных и ослабленных вследствие воздействия лесных пожаров, вредных организмов и других негативных факторов; лесных насаждениях, где не допускается проведение сплошных или выборочных рубок спелых и перестойных насаждений для заготовки древесины; в постоянных лесосеменных участках, лесосеменных плантациях, генетических резерватах. Не допускается подсочка плюсовых деревьев, семенников, семенных куртин и полос.
Заготовка и сбор недревесных лесных ресурсов. Допускается во всех лесах в соответствии с разрешенным объемом заготовки. Могут быть ограничения в лесах зеленых зон, если заготовка недревесных лесных ресурсов связана с рубкой лесных насаждений.
Заготовка пищевых лесных ресурсов и сбор лекарственных растений. Допускается во всех лесах в соответствии с разрешенным объемом заготовки.
Ведение охотничьего хозяйства. Запрещено в лесах зеленых зон.
Ведение сельского хозяйства. Запрещено в противоэрозионных лесах, зеленых зонах и лесах, имеющих научное или историческое значение. В лесах, имеющих научное или историческое значение и в противоэрозионных лесах – разрешено только пчеловодство; в зеленых зонах – только сенокошение и пчеловодство

Kinds of allowable forest uses in RF

Article 25. Forest Uses
1. The following forest uses shall be permitted:
1) wood harvesting;
2) resin harvesting;
3) harvesting and collection of non-timber forest resources;
4) harvesting of food forest resources and collection of medicinal plants;
5) game management and hunting;
6) agriculture;
7) research activities, education/training activities;
8) recreational activities;
9) establishment and use of forest plantations;
10) cultivation of forest fruit, berry, ornamental plants, medicinal plants;
11) works related to geological exploration of mineral resources, and development of mineral resource
deposits;
12) construction and operation of water reservoirs and other man-made water bodies as well as water engineering facilities and special-purpose ports;
13) construction, reconstruction, and operation of power transmission lines, communication lines,
roads, pipelines and other linear utilities;
14) processing of wood and other forest resources;
15) religious activities;
16) other uses as defined in part 2 of Article 6 of this Code.

limits for planning a forests uses on protection categories (age of cut, type of felling, allowable percent of selection…)
The account allowable cuts on types of felling, protection categories, species of trees, sections

intermediate cutting
allowable cuts for intermediate cutting

forests (algorithm)

Getting results of forest inventory (GIS-database)
Assessment a quantitative characteristics of nonwood forest resources on base of forest inventory, coefficients of correlations, equations, scientific researches, nature observation, statistic data, sample plots…etc.
Definition an allowable volumes of use for planning period (taking to account protection category, regime of use and other limits)

forests (elk, berries, grazing)

Data base management system (DBMS) for keeping and treatment of forest inventory data

, Fmaturing , Fmedium age , Fmature and over – areas of young, maturing…stands,
K – duration of age classes (10 years for deciduous, 20 year for coniferous),
U – age of cutting

all areas, assigned to different kinds of fellings by the period of repetition (срок повторяемости)

Intermediate fellings

is chosen the optimal variant from them (taking to account economical, ecological, social limitations)
The allowable volumes are determined by multiplying the cutting area by the average volumes of stands.
The final cutting must be performed only within the allowable cut (not in all mature stands).
Intermediate cutting must be carried out in full.

Note

in which is allowed logging

measures (for forest development plan)

management planning (Forest plan of Leningrad region)

Map-scheme of planning development of forest according kinds of permitted uses

applications for getting results of forest inventory and calculation an allowable for use volumes of forest resources)
Creation and visualization of forest maps (schemes, plans, tablets and parts thereof), covering the distribution of types and volumes of forest resources

The typical tasks of using GIS technology in forest management planning

for forestry, FMP, forest loggings. Developers – state and private companies, universities and scientific institutes. The basic for innovative proposals – scientific researches, significant achievements in field of IT and remote sensing methods.

Modern trends in the development of GIS in the forest complex

processing and the possibilities of practical application

Materials of annual conferences:
Geodesy. Mine survey. Aerial survey http://con-fig.com/,
Integration of geospace - the future of information technology http://www.gisforum.ru/,
From image to map: digital photogrammetric technologies http://conf.racurs.ru/conf2017/eng/conference/history.php,
Interexpo GEO-Siberia, http://sgugit.ru/interexpo-geo-siberia/.
Online journals:
Geodesy and cartography http://journal.cgkipd.ru/
Geomatics http://geomatica.ru/
GeoProfi http://www.geoprofi.ru/,
Earth from Space http://www.zikj.ru/
Websites of GIS development companies:
ESRI http://www.esri.com/industries/forestry/forest-management
Forums of specialists in GIS and remote sensing:
GIS-lab http://gis-lab.info/index-eng.html

monitoring, resource assessment)
Improving interactions between GIS-customers
Integration of forest inventory GIS-data with the data of other organizations (municipal GIS, land cadaster, native reserves) for solving various tasks at different levels of management
Involving to process of FMP modern tools, spatial data and algorithms of data processing. Integration of GIS with technologies for processing remote sensing materials of the Earth (automatic interpretation, modeling of relief, photogrammetry)
Expansion possibilities of keeping, exchanging and processing of forest inventory and FMP data (use Internet-facilities, cloud computing, mobile devices)
Development of modern innovative approaches to forest modeling, processing data, visualization
Solving problems for specific groups of users (forest certification, forest inventory, forest management, forest lease, researches, officials, non-governmental organizations)

The potential tasks of using GIS technology in forest management

number of strategic issues in the field of forest management and national forest inventory.
A long way from scientific research to production implementation.
The lack of a real need to make significant changes in the technology for the formation of GIS databases of forest inventory and the process of FMP.
For real needs of forest management and forest inventory, those GIS capabilities that already exist are sufficient. Part of the proposals in the field of GIS, remote sensing, forest management and forest inventory is promising for scientific research.

The main barriers to improving GIS for FMP and manage of forests