Identification of Land Use and Forest Cover Types on Aerial Photographs

The paper sununarizes the experiences gained in identification of various land use and forest cover types on aerial photagraphs of different forest areas of the country. Maps showing the location of various land use and forest cover types can be easily and speedily prepared with the help of aerial photographs and their area estitmates can be obtained with acceptable accuracy. Identification of species on aerial photographs is possible in homogeneous forests such as coniferous forests of the Himalayas, where only few species are involved, but has not met much success in the mixed deciduous and tropical evergreen forests, where a large number of species are growing in intimate mixture.