Use of remote sensing data to examine spatial pattern measurement for improved forest management practices

Traditional practices of woodland harvesting have left rectangular-shaped voids in forested landscapes. However, recent research devoted to conserving biological diversity in disturbed forests has suggested that the generation of forest clearcuts should attempt to resemble those created naturally by fire with respect to size, distribution, and composition of species. In this paper, textural and statistical techniques for examination of forest landscape patterns, associated with anthropogenic disturbance processes, are explored using Landsat TM imagery of a boreal forest region in central Ontario, Canada. This region is known to have undergone clearcut disturbances. It is suggested that knowledge of the links between disturbance process and resulting pattern will aid in directing forest management practitioners towards creating an ecologically sustainable environment.