TEMPORAL CHANGE DETECTION STUDY OF THE PREDEFINED FOREST COVER OF BURDWAN DISTRICT, WEST BENGAL, INDIA
S. Gupta, A.R.Ghosh, S.Bandopadhayay and S. Chowdhury
Department of Environmental Science
The University of Burdwan
West Bengal
India
Abstract Temporal change detection (1961 – 2006) study of the predefined forest
cover of Burdwan district, West Bengal is carried out by the help of GIS. From the
overlay analysis it is found that in the duration of 1961 – 1991 there are 24%
deforestation followed by 18% afforestation during 1991 – 2000 and again 9
deforestation during 2000 – 2006 with an overall decreasing trend of 15% during the
entire study period (1961 – 2006). For sustainable development of forest resource
protected forest development along with agro-forestry and social forestry in the older
alluvium soil and red and yellow soil region of this district may be recommended.
Keywords
I
ntroduction In the name of development and agricultural need or other this resource
has been exploiting for several years. Remote Sensing and GIS can be used to manage
and assess this resource for a healthy environment in future. Abbasi and Khajedin (2006)
have made a study on the application remote sensing and GIS technology in identification
of wood types Cupressus sempervirens, for re-habilitation of deforested area in Armand
watershed, Iran. Bajpai and Dasgupta (2006) and Dasgupta et al (2006) have made a
study on technological advances using remote sensing and GIS in forestry sector of India.
They made another study on use of remote sensing and GIS in assessment of trees outside forests.
Study area
Location
The study area lies in the western part of West Bengal, covering an area of 7024 km2
and is encompassed within latitudes 22055´N - 23051´N and longitudes 86048´E - 88023´E
in the Survey of India topographical maps
(73I/13,14; 73M/1,2,6,7,10,11,12,13,14,15,16; 73N/9,13 and 79A/2,3,4,6,7,8).
Forest Type
The forest of Burdwan district can be divided into three groups, viz reserve forest,
protected forest and un-classed forest. Of the total area of Burdwan, 2.97% is covered by forest.
Forest Distribution on Soil Type
The soil type of Burdwan can be divided into four large groups i.e i) Alfisols
Older Alluvium, ii) Entisols Younger Alluvium, iii) Lateritic Ultisols and iv) Red and
Yellow Ultisols. The younger alluvium is most suitable for agriculture as this type of soil
is very fertile. On lateritic soil and red and yellow soil agriculture is not so suitable
Majority of forest area is under the Lateritic Ultisols. For the development of forest the
most important cause is that the predominant tree species of these forests is sal and sal
associates, which are very suitable for this type of soil (Fig 1 ).