Abstract

COLLADO, Leonardo. Tierra del Fuego forest: Analysis of their stratification through satellite images for the province forest inventory . Multequina [online]. 2001, vol.10, n.1, pp.01-15. ISSN 1852-7329.

The 35% of the argentinean part of the Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego is covered by forest, which represents one of the most important genuine resources of the province. Nevertheless, we lack of detailed and classified information (species distribution, forest types, domain, state of conservation, etc.) to be used like a basic tool to get a forest general management plan. The goal of this report was to inventory and classify the woodlands through satellite images. To achieve this objective we use SPOT imagery of 1995 summer and aerial photographs through a geographic information system, with the support of pre-existent cartography and field information. The forest was classified into five attributes: specie, forest type, lands domain, conservation status and topography.Forest composition is basically dominated by three species:Nothofagus pumilio, N. Antarctica and N. betuloides. The first two species grow in monoespecific and extensive stands and cover the 44% and 25% of the total forest cover respectively. The rest of the forested area is dominated by mixed forest composed by the three mentioned species and with a little participation of Drymis winterii and Maytenus magellanica as second order tree species. Productive forest is composed mainly with Nothofagus pumilio, representing a 30% of the forest total area. The 20% of this productive forest has been logged, the rest of the area remains without silvicultural intervention. On the other hand, it is necessary to that the half of the forest area belongs to private owners, while the rest of the forest are public under several ways of domain (provincial reserves, national park, municipality). Under the geomorphologic aspect, the 33% of the forest grow over plane-undulated terrain and the 37% over steep mountainside terrains. The island and gallery forest doesn’t overcome the 5%. The remind of the area is unclassified Nothofagus Antarctica forest. This way the obtained results are a basic tool to meet a forest general management plan.

Keywords : Classification; Lenga; Geographic information systems; Ñire; Territorial planification; Forest management.

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