Spatial analysis of protective forest plantations based on geographic information technologies and remote sensing data

Abstract

In many agricultural regions of Russia, significant land areas are degraded and the Stavropol Territory is no exception. Protective forest plantations play an important role in protecting the soil from deflation and water erosion. Significant areas of protective forest plantations are in unsatisfactory condition, which leads to a decrease in the effectiveness of their protective function. As a result of the study, a new methodology was developed for assessing the spatial position of protective forest plantations using geographic information technologies and remote sensing data, which has tested in the territory of the Budyonnovsky District of the Stavropol Territory. It has been established that the existing protective forest plantations in the district are not sufficiently effective in protecting the arable land from deflation. Only 5 % of protective forest plantations are located at recommended distances from each other and 10 % are at an optimal angle to the most harmful winds. The low efficiency of protective forest plantations is associated with the peculiarities of their design at the initial stages of creating a protective framework, their achievement of the maximum age, as well as significant damage resulting from human activities. To assess the effectiveness of protective forest plantations in combating water erosion, we developed an original methodology for adjusting the digital elevation model SRTM in order to eliminate local elevations of the relief at the locations of protective forest plantations. It was found that the horizontal indicator of the boundaries in the territory of the Budyonnovsky District is 11 %, which indicates that protective forest plantations in the district were created primarily to protect the arable land from deflation. The presented methodological approaches can be used to adjust existing, and design new protective forest plantations.