GSE Forest Monitoring in Russia
(Stage II)

Overview Task 3: Service Production in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia

Russia possesses largest forestry resources in the world, containing about 22% of the world�s forest. One of the most wooded regions of Russia is the Irkutsk Oblast compromising 4.5% of Russian territory. The Irkutsk Oblast is dominated by typical taiga forest. 82% of the territory is covered by forest. Within the Irkutsk Oblast the State Forest Agency of Irkutsk General Survey of Natural Resources (FA of GSNR) executes the policy for the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russian Federation (MNR). Duties of the FA of GSNR include forest use, forest monitoring and control activities, as well as protection and reforestation throughout the Irkutsk region. Forest information are provided by the conduction of periodical forest inventories and intermediate forest enterprises in order to update forest inventory data with respect to changes caused by forest management activities and natural disturbances. According to formal requirements forest inventories must be conducted every 10 -15 years. Due to common forest fire events as well as intensive human activities such as clear cutting and cultivation the Irkutsk territory is characterized by intensive large area changes of forests. For management and monitoring purposes an annual update cycle is obligatory. A frequent full inventory of Irkutsk forest resources is a great challenge. The conduction of ground inventories within this region is rather complicated due to the large size of the region, inaccessibility of many areas as well as cost and time consuming.

This GSE FM service provides a powerful tool for effective forest monitoring and inventory at regional scale. Reliable and up-to-date information on forest extent and changes therein will be generated using high-resolution EO data. A total area of about 200.000 km� will be monitored within this project.

Products: Forest Area Map, Forest Area Change Map, Clear Cut and Burned Area Map

Data: ENVISAT ASAR Cross-polarized C-Band APP IS7 data, archived Landsat TM and ETM data

ENVISAT ASAR Cross-polarized C-Band APP IS7 data in the Forest Enterprise Baersky