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vol7/ 1ss2/
SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF FOREST COVERS CHANGE: HUMAN
IMPACTS AND NATURAL DISTURBANCES IN BARTIN FORESTS, NW OF TURKEY
By "Ayhan Atesoglu, " Metin Tunay. ^Gurcan Buyuksalih,
“Dept. of Forest Engineering,
(aatesoglu@yahoo.com)
Bartin Faculty of Forestry, Karaelmas University, Bartin, Turkey (mtunay74@ttnet.net.tr),
Dept. of Geodesy & Photogrammetry, Faculty of Engineering, Karaelmas University, 67100 Zonguldak, Turkey
(gbuyuksalih@yahoo.com)
PS ICWG IVIV
KEY WORDS: Remote Sensing, GIS, Classification, Change Detection, Forestry
ABSTRACT:
During last two decades, Bartin Forests in northwest of Turkey have been exploited by human impacts. Easy access and the
abundance of valuable and large diversity forest products have led to higher population densities with opening new settlement areas
via deforestation activities. In this study, interpretation of digital image classification resulted from multi-date Landsat-5 TM images
recorded in time frame between 1992s and 2000s was evaluated to produce land cover maps for change detection analysis. The
accuracy of the Landsat TM classification and errors inherent to the techniques used were assessed accordingly. The updated digital
forest inventory plans, existing different scales topographic maps and aerial photographs was integrated into a GIS database with the
generated classification results in order to elaborate a spatially explicit multi-date database on land use/cover change. This spatial
model is used for identifying deforestation fronts and biodiversity conservation. As a result, several changes in the test site were
observed, including increases in the areas extent of agriculture lands and urbanization with the corresponding decrease in Bartin
Forest's wealth.
1. Introduction
Forest areas in the Bartin province and its close vicinity, located
at northwestern part of Turkey, with total area of 175,553 ha
and 13,578,867 m tree rich are one of the main forest resources
of the country. Due to the forests are “natural forests” with high
quality and contains extensive species variation, this region
becomes one of the important area of the world as well. As
species; oak (Quercus sp.), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus),
chesnut-tree (Castenae sativa), beech (Fagus orientalis), scotch
pine (Pinus sylvestris), crimean pine (Pinus nigra), fir (Abies
bornmiilleriana), juniper (Juniperus sp.) and yew-tree (Taxus
baccata) can mainly be found in the region in addition to the
diverse biologic conditions and rich wild life (TMMOB, 1999).
Apart from these aspects of the Bartin forests, in last three
years, total of 16,589 m? dried beech timber has been exported
Moreover, constructions have to be added because of the
growth in population and extent of the settlement areas. This
situation also causes negative influences on forest resources. On
the other hand, positively, with the endeavors of local forest
directorates, some, but limited new forest areas have been
gained in the region. As a result of such activities, there are
serious problems in relation to the land use in the region (Hizal
et al., 1996, Musaoglu et al., 2002) To show the changes in the
forest reserves of Bartin region, remotely sensed images have
been evaluated in temporal manner. For this purpose, Landsat-5
TM images acquired on year 1992 and 2000 were classified
based on the available spectral information. Comparison of
classification results each other and also with the available maps
was realized in the GIS environment to show the forest cover
changes happened in the interest area.
471
in an increasing manner (Ascioëlu, 2001). Such figure shows
economical contributions of the forests resources to the
sustainable development of the country.
However, Bartin forests are always under attacks of the local
people and indirectly by the towns or cities located at close
proximity. According to forest directorate data, in forest areas,
lands located next to or in the forest faced violations, which are
about 400 ha by the purpose of land gain for the last 16 years.
Villagers mostly supply living sources from agriculture and
animal husbandry, so the products in inconvenient fields remain
insufficient to meet with their requirements. Therefore, it is not
uncommon that the destruction of forest and their
transformation to the agrieultural fields, nut grove, settlement
areas and other similar usages (Tunay and Atesoglu, 1992).
2. Study Area, Test Materials and Registration
The location of Bartin province and its close vicinity in
Turkey's administration map and current Landsat satellite
image of the area are shown in Fig. 1. From statistical point of
view; 46%, 35%, 7% and 12% of study area amounts to 2,143
km? in total are covered by forests, agriculture lands, meadow-
pasture and settlement areas respectively (Bartin Tourism
Centre, 1996). Furthermore, 31% (Turkey's average = 59%) and
69% (Turkey’s average = 41%) of the total population, which is
about 186,000 people, lives in city and villages respectively.
Nevertheless, approximately 52% of the village population
settles in the surroundings of the forest areas (Turkey's average
= 20%) (Guvenen, 1992).
