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Knowing the location and extent of the forest blocks combined 
with ground sampling data, the planner has acquired a complete 
knowledge of the forest resource existing within the region. In 
tropical deciduous forests where the rotation is generally very 
long (varying from 50 to 150 years) and big number of tree spe- 
cies (ranging up to 120 or more) are found to occur, anindustri- 
al planner wants to know about two important aspects: 
- Which of the areas or blocks are suitable for development 
of fast growing and fibrous species? 
- How much existing raw material would be available from these 
areas which are suitable for replenishment with fast growing 
Species? 
Both these aspects have been replied with the help of photomaps 
prepared, of course combined with ground sampling for quantifi- 
cation of raw material. It is now only a question of deciding 
upon the possible combinations of various strata ihteroreted on 
aerial photos which may be considered as fit for fast growing 
plantation development bv the planner and their location is 
known from the photomaps. 
Besides, these photo-interpretation maps have made certain reve- 
lations and helped in updating the existing area location infor- 
mation: 
- exact location and extent of shifting cultivation is known. A 
repeated aerial photographv over the area would enable the forest 
manager to know about the trend and extent of shifting cultivation 
which otherwise is difficult to know. The reported area under 
shifting cultivation in 1961 was 456 ha whereas the photomaps 
recently prepared have revealed this figure around 9,337 ha. 
KOHLI, V.G. (1978). 
- Data on location of extent of vegetational growth including 
forest type outside Reserved and Protected Forests is also ob- 
tained from these maps. Although in this case only the area 
calculation has been confined within Reserved and Protected 
forests, but a planner can always assimilate forestrv information 
even outside the legal boundaries which is also important. 
- These maps have also helped in updating the legal boundaries 
of the forest blocks which otherwise may not be possible. 
- All the area under Reserved Forests is covered by a working 
plan in Bastar, whereas some of the Protected Forest Blocks have 
not been covered by any working plan or working scheme. In such 
cases photomaps do provide detailed information about its lo- 
cation, crop density, slope, volume class and management catego- 
ry etc. 
Thus in the end it can be said that the aerial photographs have 
provided important tool to the industrial planner to obtain up- 
to-date and exact area information in the minimum possible time.