In Umea all Sweden is spread before the eyes…
Geographic information systems and data of Earth Remote Sensing are widely used for all kinds of purposes – from archaeological researches and search for mineral resources to the current monitoring of spring flood and forest fire spread. How to use these types of information for the forest use planning and how via GIS to plan the location of forest roads and logging sites faster and more competently with account of the landscape boarders and conservation of ecological values of the forest? To answer these questions Silver Taiga Foundation specialists started for Sweden, the country world-famous for its rich experience in forest management and forest planning. Here in the northern city Umea on the basis of the Department of the Forest Resource Management of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) Yury Pautov, Elena Popova, and Nikolay Shuktomov took a short course on work with GIS and ERS.
The variety of the data and systems used by the Swedes are simply stunning. Among them optical images of different resolution (from “five meter” SPOT to MODIS with a 250 meter resolution) by means of which classification of the territory by cover types is made, radar images, LiDAR system used for automatic construction of 3D relief models and laser scanning used for getting a solid model of forest stands, and many others.
For detailed examination of small areas pilotless aircraft is actively used. Reaching the heights up to 250 meters it takes photographs with a resolution of several tens of centimeters. Right in front of the eyes of the trip participants such pilotless vehicle shot the area of about 2 ha, which enabled the specialists to build a 3D model of relief and forest stands within minutes with the help of a special GIS-program.
Participants of the trip were surprised by a high level of competence of GIS-specialists, equipment and volumes of investments made by the state to this research area.
However, most of all the Foundation specialists were amazed by a high level of national forest and landscape inventory in Sweden. Public Landsat images with 30 meter resolution are taken as a basis for the inventory. According to the Swedes, they are very comfortable to use as they give sufficient information about the area and at the same time they are not overloaded with small details and very convenient for decoding of solid forest ranges (which are prevailing in Sweden). Field verification annually covers about 8000 points, 2/3 of which have a permanent character. On every point specially trained specialists selected on a competitive basis collect the data characterizing the landscape, vegetation, soils, species diversity according to two hundred parameters. The inventory has a five-year cycle, i.e. the data is updated every five years, which gives a precise knowledge and a chance for a detailed tracking of the condition of the forest stands located on the territory and proper planning of the forestry practices. By the way, forest inventory in Sweden started already in 1929-1930-s and the data obtained during those expeditions is carefully stored, transferred to electronic form and actively used for analyses of the historical dynamics and contemporary condition of the forests in Sweden. Most importantly, cartographic materials on the Sweden forests are accessible to any interested users.
At the end of the “theoretical” part of the course the Foundation specialist Elena Popova made a presentation on the topic “Difficulties and perspectives of the landscape planning in forestry of the Komi Republic”. Professors and graduate students of the SLU took part in the seminar; they showed a great interest in the situation in forestry of Komi and asked questions on all kinds of topics – from the reasons of forest inventory materials deterioration and update methods used for this data to the interaction between logging enterprises and residents of the Komi villages.
However, the program of the course was not finished at this point. On the fourth day of the trip the group went to the west of the Sweden province Västerbotten to the office of the Vilhelmina Model Forest. This Model Forest was established in 2001 and since 2004 has become a member of the International Model Forest Network. By the way, Komi Model Forestis also included there. There the Silver Taiga Foundation Director Yury Pautov made a presentation about a fifteen-year experience of the Komi Model Forest, which developed into a long discussion-exchange of experience.
The final part of the trip was devoted to visiting the territory with an interesting name Stekken York where the specialists could see with their own eyes how in the Model Forest Vilhelmina agreement between the differently directed interests of the private forest owners, representatives of the Saami historically engaged in commercial deer farming on this territory, and mining and energy companies was working. They also had a chance to enjoy the mountain views and to have a short rest before the way home.
Geographic information systems and data of Earth Remote Sensing are perfect modern tools and can significantly improve the forest use planning and forest management quality in Komi – this is a clear “verdict” of the trip participants. Competent usage of these tools allows to considerably facilitate the forest inventory, simplify and speed up the process of forest roads construction planning and placing of the logging sites on the landscape, identify ecologically vulnerable and socially important forest areas.
According to the Foundations specialists, this trip was very useful, primarily, for broadening of outlook in the sphere of GIS technologies and ERS usage, which will certainly give a new push to the Foundation projects development.