«We can see everything from above…» – field works in the basin of the river Yn

Another field trip within the framework of the project aimed at creation of the cartographic basis for the forestry landscape planning took place at the end of August in the Ust-Nemskoye forestry unit (Ust-Kulom district): Silver Taiga Foundation ecologists have carried out the works in the basin of the river Yn, tributary of the river Nem.

This is the second of two pilot areas, where collection of the field data on the forest landscape specifics and comparison of the received information with satellite images of different spatial resolution, is fulfilled. An interesting feature of this area is the landscape formation on the fluvioglacial sediments (the sediments deposited by glacial meltwater flow) in the watershed of the Kama and Vychegda basins, which is quite unusual for watershed parts of landscapes.

Its second peculiarity is a mixture of the forest forming species traditional for European taiga and some Siberian species, such as cedar and fir. Besides, undisturbed fragments of pristine dark coniferous taiga noticeable for their high level of biological diversity, are preserved here. These features of a specific forest landscape are quite vividly demonstrated on the satellite images of medium resolution, which gives a possibility for competent planning of forest use and restoration, with preservation of the most valuable areas.

Such ecological field studies will help to supplement the information used during the forestry planning, because it’s very important for a proper planning to evaluate a situation on the forest territory in dynamics and constantly update this information with account of the current changes (fires, windfalls). Existing forest inventory database and forest maps don’t give such possibility. Satellite images of one and the same territory made at different time periods and different seasons of the year allow to evaluate the forest vegetation dynamics in space and time and to get a reliable ecological and landscape base for forest planning, meeting the requirements of sustainable forest management. The task of this project is to facilitate the creation of such database.

Seed cedar trees left on a clear felling are frequently wind-fallen

View of a fresh fire-site, 2010, with the area of 219 ha in the basin of the river Yn

The same fire-site on a Landsat satellite image, 2010

Field camp of ecologists

Translated by Irina Sokolova