Geo-spatial Analysis of Lesser Himalayan Landscape For Characterizing Resource Utilization Pattern (Nainital Lake Region)
Analyzing critical areas of resource utilization
The concept of the critical resources is developed based on the importance of the resources, per capita requirement of biomass, Physical accessibility and Landscape level disturbance regimes.
The resources importance index was given based on the field knowledge. The accessibility map was prepared taking the slope, settlement and transport into the consideration. The criteria for the accessibility map are depicted in table 4. The landscape parameters were used to qualify/quantify the fragmentation in the available resource. Further the landscape indices were used to calculate the disturbance regimes in the study area
Table 4: Criteria for Physical Accessibility Map
| Parameters | Criteria | Index | Weightage |
| Slope | <15° | 5 | 0.5 |
| 15-30° | 3 |
| >30° | 1 |
| Settlement Buffer | <200m | 5 | 0.25 |
| 200m-400m | 3 |
| >400m | 1 |
| Road Buffer | <200 | 5 | 0.25 |
| 200m-400m | 3 |
| >400m | 1 |
Physical Accessibility Index = 0.5*(Slope Index) + 0.25*(Settlement Buffer Index) + 0.25*(Road Buffer Index)
4. Results
Land Use/Land Cover Mapping
The total of 12 land use/cover types were identified
Oak (Ban Quercus leucotrichophora & Moru Quercus floribunda) forest is a kind of Himalayan moist temperate forests distributed at an altitude 1800m-2400m above msl. It is the dominant forest in this area covering 13.5% (12.66 sq. km) of the land in Nainital lake region.
Oak is used as fodder, fuel wood and plays a very important role as resource for the subsistence of the villagers. Heavily lopped oak forest can be seen in the Khurpatal lake watershed. The oak forest in Nainital Nagar palika range, Lariakhata block, cantonment and Raj bhavan ranges are still in a better condition.
Chir Pine (Pinus roxburghii, Sargent) is found in this study area. It is occupying only 28.1%, (26.31 sq. km) of the area.
About 7.8% (7.367175 Sq Km) of the area is under mixed Pine forest, with Oak and Surai as prominent species distributed in the nagar palika range and khupratal block.
A large area in this region has been brought under plantation under soil and water conservation schemes. Surai (cupressus torulosa), Deodar (Cedrus deodara), Oak (Quercuc leucotricophora), Telangh (Quercuc floribunda), Pine (pinus roxburghi) etc. are some of the species, which are planted other then some exotic species.