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INTRODUCTION 
We are in a period of dynamic revolution in the field of resource defini- 
tion, analysis, and planning. Decisions made today must be based upon 
today's resource situation. Old inventory systems took much time, were 
inaccurate at best, and were obsolete before the resource planner 
received them. This was acceptable 30 years ago when the impact of wrong 
decisions was not readily discernible or as critical as they are today. 
We are faced with finite resources with almost infinite demands which 
allow very little margin for error. Our methods of inventory have lagged 
behind other phases of planning for lack of sophisticated systems of 
viewing the resources quickly, accurately, with reasonable cost, and, 
most important, with means for repetition of the process within a short 
time frame.  LANDSAT has partially opened the door to such a system. The 
satellite provides a remote platform from which we can continuously view 
the Earth's resources. The satellite does not tell us what is viewed 
without ground interpretation. This system shares a common flaw with 
other systems in that a human must describe what is viewed. The sat- 
ellite simply provides a signal based upon the total reflectivity of a 
piece of the Earth's surface. This is then related to a combination of 
known vegetation, water, and bare soil or rock. This known combination 
must be located and described on-the-ground. 
Classifying forest, range, and agricultural lands from LANDSAT satellite 
computer tapes requires extensive and intensive  "ground-truth." To 
quantify and qualify the images for identifying specific areas and unite 
as small as 1 pixel (1.1 acres or 0.45 hectares) in size, it has becos 
increasingly necessary to gather spatially oriented and more pr cise 
ground data. There is great need for new and improved "ground-truthing" 
techniques to maximize the usability of the satellite data source for 
intensive land management planning. 
An acceptable land classification system for small area units has now 
been achieved by collating and correlating various ground and aerial 
imaging methods. These methods include a limited number of ground check 
points, a large number of large-scale color infrared photographic strips