ification results 
y compared to 
acquired during 
dered a “prime 
part of the 
' healthy green 
| on the Pakhli 
ed considerable 
on of forests on 
"he MSS on the 
a time of year, 
getation in the 
ral land on the 
se cultivation of 
til January. The 
facilitated the 
classes in the 
tral confusion 
1s overcome by 
iowledge of the 
vegetation was 
ogical rules to 
ed on elevation 
ese rules, the 
1 Was restricted 
909 meters. 
hich is mostly 
restricted to the 
meters. Any 
was considered 
s classified into 
ced cultivation, 
. The 30 meter 
INFO to above 
classes. The 
delineation of 
he forest pixels 
orest-type maps 
] by the forest 
n classification 
  
7. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
The accuracy of each classification was 
determined by comparing the interpreted 
vegetation classes to the known vegetation 
class as determined through the combination of 
published vegetation maps, literature, and 
personal field observations. The MSS image 
depicted the distribution of forests before the 
arrival of refugees in the region; whereas TM 
presented the post-refugees picture of forests. 
Significant change in the forest cover was 
observed. Forests in the vicinity of one of the 
largest refugee camp (Ichrian Camp) in the 
Siran Valley were visited in the summer of 
1992. Serious deforestation was observed on 
the hills surrounding this camp, which is also 
evident in Figure 3. Intensive afforestation 
efforts have been made in recent years by Siran 
Forest Division (SFD) in this area. However, 
livestock grazing is still a serious threat to new 
plantations. 
8. CONCLUSION 
The multidate remotely sensed satellite 
data coupled with GIS data provide significant 
capability for forest change detection, and 
assessment of deforestation. The digital and the 
visual analysis of satellite data when combined 
with DEM provided adequate opportunity to 
derive some preliminary conclusion regarding 
the extent of deforestation in a small hilly 
watershed. 
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