Evaluation of area and canopy density of forests in the Guilan Province using satellite data

Knowledge on the area and amount of forest coverage at landscape scale can be one of the most important indicators in forest sustainable development. In this study, we used Landsat-8 full coverage imagery across the Guilan Province and the supervised classification method for forest canopy cover mapping in the summer of 2014. Field data were collected by a two-stage sampling method and 316 number of 0.5-ha plots. Subsequently, information on the types of land use and the canopy density (the ratio of the level of forest floor lightness per unit area) were recorded. With an overall accuracy of 91.8% and kappa coefficient of 0.80, results showed that 498804 ha of the total land area of Guilan Province is covered by forests, from which dense, semi-dense, and scattered forests account for about 42.1, 41.5, and 16.4% of the forested areas, respectively. This study demonstrated the negative effect of spectral similarity between farmlands with scatter and semi-dense forests in the accuracy of forest classification. This study demonstrated the proper performance of Landsat 8 data in providing thematic maps such as density and forest cover. Therefore, these data and information can be recommended for use in forest management decision-making, conservation, and restoration.