Estimating forest structure parameters on Fort Lewis Military Reservation using airborne laser scanner ( LIDAR ) data

  • Andersen H
  • Foster J
  • Reutebuch S
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Abstract

Three-dimensional (3-D) forest structure information is critical to support a variety of ecosystem management objectives on the Fort Lewis Military Reservation, including habitat assessment, ecological restoration, fire management, and commercial timber harvest. In particular, the Forestry Program at Fort Lewis requires measurements of shrub, understory, and overstory canopy cover to monitor vegetation response to various management approaches. At present, these measurements are acquired through field-based procedures, which are relatively costly and time-consuming. The use of remotely sensed data, such as airborne laser scanning (LIDAR), has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of acquiring these types of measurements over large areas. As an active remote sensing technology, LIDAR provides direct, three-dimensional measurements of the forest canopy structure and underlying terrain surface. LIDAR-based cover measurements can be related to forest vegetation cover through a mathematical function based upon the Beer-Lambert law, which accounts for scanning geometry and vertical foliage density. This study was carried out to determine the utility of small- footprint, discrete-return LIDAR for estimation of forest canopy cover at Fort Lewis. LIDAR-based structural measures were compared to spatially-explicit field measurements acquired from inventory plots in five forest stands representative of the various forest types at Fort Lewis and a variety of terrain. Results indicate that LIDAR-based cover estimates for overstory and understory are generally related to field-based estimates.

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APA

Andersen, H.-E., Foster, J. R., & Reutebuch, S. E. (2003). Estimating forest structure parameters on Fort Lewis Military Reservation using airborne laser scanner ( LIDAR ) data. In 2nd Inter-national Precision Forestry Symposium2 (pp. 45–53). Seattle, Washington.

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