National seminar on ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN EASTERN INDIA (STATUS, ISSUES AND CHALLENGES) UTILIZING GEOINFORMATICS IN MAPPING FOREST TRANSFORMATION IN HAZARIBAGH WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, INDIA SAURABH KR. GUPTA & A.C.PANDEY Centre for Land Resource Management CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF JHARKHAND Brambe-835205, Ranchi

INTRODUCTION Forests represent one of the world’s main valuable common assets and play a key function in maintaining ecological balance. These resources have been degraded and depleted worldwide, consequently endanger the economy and prosperity of country. Jharkhand has been witnessing migration of wildlife from forest areas for the last few years only because of forest degradation (Jharkhand biodiversity board, 2016) The forest transformation is the indicator of forest disturbance, existence of flora and fauna and human interferences.

INTRODUCTION Classification based on spectral properties of land features is the important source of information for delineating land cover classes, as spectral reflectance is accepted to be dissimilar with respect to the type of land cover. DN (Digital Number) of raw satellite images processed and converted into normalized difference index (NDVI) values, the time series analysis of the index shows the state of vegetation, changes due to human interference, natural disturbances and alteration in plant phenology (U.S. Geological Survey, 2015). Landsat data and its mapping are essential inputs for the process of formulating, implementing, and monitoring policy with the aim of reducing the impact of forest-cover change.

STUDY AREA The study area comprises Hazaribagh Wildlife sanctuary in Hazaribagh District of Jharkhand. It lies between 24°45'22” N to 24°08′20″N and 85° 30'13” E to 85°E of latitude and longitude respectively (figure1). Climate of the area is tropical having hot summer and chilly winters. In summer, greatest temperature rises up to 41 degrees, and low of 19 degrees. In winter, most extreme temperature decreased are 19 degrees and 7 degrees respectively. The sanctuary has Tigers, Sambhar, Deer, Bison and various mammalian faunas. The Cheetah, Kakar, Nilgai, Sambar and Wild Boar are among the most effectively and frequently spotted creatures especially close to the waterholes at the time of the sunset.

Methods and Materials The Landsat data of year 1992, 2005, 2010 and 2014 was used and NDVI was calculated of the month of November DATE ACQUIRED TYPE MONTH SPATIAL RESOLUTION SUN ELEVATION 1992-11-25 Landsat 5 November 28.5m 43 2005-11-05 30 m 44.384 2010-11-19 30m 41.0665 2014-11-01 Landsat 8 47.859

Methodology

NDVI Histogram classification VDF = Very dense forest DF = Dense Forest MDF = Moderately dense Forest OF = Open Forest DEF = Degraded Forest FB = Forest Blank WB = Water Bodies

Forest classification:1992-2014

Forest transformation

Forest LU/LC transformation and Unchanged area Area(Km2) (%) Unchanged area Open to forest blank 3.71 1.195 Water bodies 0.045900 0.015 Open to degraded 39.39 12.7 Forest blank 0.15 0.049 Open to Moderately dense 11.13 3.59 Degraded forest 1.03 0.33 Moderately Dense to degraded 4.61 1.49 Open forest Moderately Dense to Open 44.83 14.49 Moderately Dense 31.16 10.05 Dense to degraded 1.2 0.39 Dense 3.76 1.21 Dense to open 29.49 9.51 Very Dense 0.001 0.0005 Dense to moderately dense 81.06 26.14   Very Dense to Moderately dense 30.01 9.68 Very dense to dense 11.38 3.67

Accuracy assessment Error Matrix Reference Map: 2014 Classified map: 2014 Categories WB FB DEF OF MDF DF VDF 501 9245 14987 14263 119786 157465 Total 29250 Observed Correct Total observed Kappa 318228 349066 91% 0.86

RELATIONSHIP TO FOREST FRAGMENTATION

Conclusion The results showed that forest are continuously in a changing state. There was overall decline in very dense and dense forest and forest in year 2014 was highly fragmented compare to year 1992. The forest is under stress due to population pressures, land use and land transformation, illegal acquisition of land for agriculture or settlements, cutting down of trees and also due to climate change. At present the moderately and open forest are dominant causing increased forest fires. Wild animals are difficult to sight their or found in very rarely indicated there was decline in wildlife, showing some relation to the denseness of forest, human exposure, ecosystem imbalance and changes in microclimate of the forest.

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