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UTILIZATION OF LANDSAT DATA TO MONITOR DEFORESTATION OF KENYA'S MAU FOREST 
by 
HUBERTUS (HUGH) L. BLOEMER 
Ohio University, Athens, Ohio USA 
JAMES 0. BRUMFIELD 
Marshall University, Huntington, W.Va. USA 
WUGHANGA M. MAGHENDA 
Ohio University, Athens, Ohio USA 
ABSTRACT 
The Mau Forest, the largest forest in Kenya, is under constant pressure for 
alternative land use. Settlements, due to population pressure, are encroaching 
and the need for agricultural land is ever increasing. Squatter settlements are 
leaving an imprint of deforestation which might have devastating results in the 
area. 
Major factors responsible for the depletion of the Mau Forest include: 
1) Fire (often attributed to human carelessness), 2) Conversion of bushland to 
grassland by itinerant charcoal burners, 3) Unplanned harvesting and general 
exploitation (e.g. pit sawing, cutting of fuel wood), 4) Clearing of trees to 
create pasture land and the clearing of forest in order to plant food crops, dis- 
regarding the terrain, 5) Cutting of trees for building poles, and 6) Multiplica- 
tion of forest diseases. 
The extent of forest change is far-ranging in the Mau Forest. Data obtained 
through LANDSAT provides a mechanism to monitor the rate and magnitude of the 
change. Data for January 1973 and December 1978 were analyzed through the aid 
of digital data processing. The procedure included a traditional and nontradi- 
tional cluster algorithm technique to measure the extent of deforestation. The 
classified data sets were compared with aerial photography and other geo-referenced 
information. The two data sets were subsequently compared to determine the extent 
of deforestation during the time interval. Results show that the trends in defor- 
estation for a geographic region can be effectively monitored through digital data 
processing and analysis of LANDSAT data. The data processing was accomplished 
through the Earth Resources Data Analysis System (ERDAS) 400, housed at Ohio Uni- 
versity's Ohio Center for Remote Sensing. Digital data processing of this type 
certainly provides an additional tool for forest resources management. 
INTRODUCTION 
Forests, even though they are considered a renewable resource, are declining 
at an alarming rate (Cannon et al.,1978; Lachowski et a1,,1978; Persson 1977). 
This is particularly true of the tropical rain forest which includes the Mau 
Forest in Kenya. (See Figure 1.) Deforestation is not merely a matter of land 
cover or land use change; rather the environmental ramifications of such occurence 
can lead to disastrous results if the practice goes unchecked. 
Man's impact on the environment has been multifarious and often synergistic 
throughout the time of habitation of planet earth. It has only been in recent 
decades, for the most part, that man's relationship with the land or his environ- 
ment has been looked at with any degree of scrutiny. The major factors responsi- 
ble for the depletion of the Mau Forest include land clearing for agricultural 
land use, wood gathering for fuel and lumbering for commercial and industrial 
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