MAPPING OF PLANTING PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIAL TREE PLANTATIONS OF SARAWAK USING BROAD BAND SPECTRAL INDICES

摘要

Sarawak has currently embarked on a large scale tree plantation program to provide sustainable supply of raw materials for its timber industry. However, the current method of manual verification of the planting progress is time consuming and very subjective. With improvements in satellite sensor technology, the use of differences in the spectral response of vegetation by cover type has seen successful applications for land use mapping. In this study, we have shown the potential of using spectral indices derived from SPOT5 band set for mapping the planting progress of an industrial tree plantation area in Bintulu, Sarawak. Results from the classified map were able to successfully discriminate between the planted classes (saplings; planted within 2 years; planted over 2 years), non-planted classes (clearings) and the natural vegetation (forests) class.