Selection of least cost paths for extraction of Forest Produce using Remote Sensing and GIS - A case study of Andhra Pradesh Forest Dept. India A Rama Murthy Forest Range Officer (GIS) O/o The Prl. Chief Conservator of Forests, Andhra Pradesh, Aranya Bhaan, Hyderabad Email: murthyar@rediffmail.com Introduction From historical point of view, there have been a number of motives for public and private investment in transportation systems. The most important of these have military, political, or economic bases.Ttraditional motivation for establishing transportation systems is to “knit together” the inhabitants of a territory by providing mutual access and communication. More commonly, transportation is thought of as an economic activity, and decisions about transportation systems are motivated by economic concerns. The most basic function of the transportation system is to create what in economic jargon is called time or place utility through the physical transfer of persons or goods from one location to another – in other words, the value of goods depends on where they are and when they are there. Basic economic resources and human population are scattered widely over the face of the earth; in order for a complex economy to exist, raw materials must be extracted, brought together in some form of manufacturing process, and then brought to market. Normally, all steps in this process will require some form of transportation. The commonly used modes of transportation are highways, air, rail, water, pipelines and other modes such as cable and belt systems, ski lifts(James H.Banks,1998). Broadly speaking roads in and adjoining forest areas which are constructed and maintained by the forest department are termed as forest roads. The practice of constructing roads in forest areas is fairly old and the work is carried out by the forest department. The main functions of forest roads are to provide communications in and around forest areas, to serve as a means of transport of forest produce (timber, fuel and other non-wood forest products). The cost of forest products thus depends on the cost of transport which in turn is a function of the distance of the forest from the market and the nature or condition of the road over which it is transported. These roads also help control fire, over exploitation along the main roads/fringes, better patrolling and communications(S.S. Negi, 1994). Study Area The kollapur sub division of achampet division comprises of Kollapur and Lingal ranges.The study area of 2308 sq.km.has been selected encompassing the boundaries of the subdivision to facilitate the cost paths to be searched in the neighborhood also(Fig.1). The terrain is complex. It includes level to steep mountainous terrains. The area drains into river Krishna which forms the southern and eastern boundary. The rainfall is deficient which is about 700 mm per annum. In range Kollapur bamboo overlapping working circle with two series with a total area of 20,829 ha. namely Sukkalagundam series of 12,439 Hectares and Medarvote series of 8390 hectares is worked on a felling cycle of 3 years which is prescribed. The system of management is the culm selection system where an individual culm is selected from the clump for felling depending upon its age and congestion in the clump. This system is followed to ensure sustained yield and to prevent deterioration of the crop. The total targets anticipated were not achieved because of non working of the coupes in whole of the areas due to inaccessible areas and no formation of extraction paths (working plan). The projected annual yield from the above two series is about 18 lakh bamboo (4000 MT).  Figure 1
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