PREFACE

The Forest Survey of India is entrusted with the task of an objective assessment of the Forest resources of the country on a periodic basis. The main activities are the assessment of the forest cover and preparation of the forest cover maps biennially using remote sensing data, estimation of growing stock and other land uses in different parts of the country through field inventory, preparation of thematic maps using aerial photographs and imparting in-service training to the officials of the forest department of States/UTs in the application of remote sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS) and inventory essential for resource planning and management.

State of Forest Report 1997, the sixth in the biennial series, presents the forest cover situation of India during the period 1993-95 based on visual and digital interpretation of the IRS-1B satellite data. The interpretation and transference of data to Survey of India base maps of 1:250,000 scale, ground verification and the estimation of forest cover are time consuming activities and therefore time lag creeps in between the acquisition of data and finalisation of the report.

Introductory chapter of the report presents a brief overview of the methodology, results of the past assessments as well as limitations and scope of the organisation. Forest cover estimates of the country and states have been presented in Chapter 2 and change matrices compared to 1995 assessment in different forest cover classes of States/UTs in Chapter 3. District being a planning unit for the development, districtwise forest cover has also been provided in Chapter 4. Keeping in view the emphasis of National Forest Policy, 1988, forest cover estimates for hill and tribal districts of the country have been analysed separately for the first time and presented in Chapters 5 and 6 respectively. Highlights of the thematic mapping and field inventory have been presented in Chapters 7 and 8 which form the main activities undertaken by four zonal offices located at Bangalore, Calcutta, Nagpur and Shimla. Maps and detailed reports are published seperately and provided to the user agencies as and when required.

In order to keep pace with the advancing technology, the organisation is gradually switching on to digital image processing. A modern Digital Cartographic System has already been commissioned during 1997 and efforts are being made to reduce the period between the aquisition of data and the publication of report. Assessment of the forest plantations resources established in forest and non-forest areas of the country, special studies in protected and watershed areas and status of natural regeneration in forests are other areas of concern for the organisation.

The completion of this repolrt has been possible because of the guidance and valuable comments of Shri S.K. Pande, IFS, Additional Inspector General of Forests, and the team work of the officers and the technical staff of the organisation. I would like to palace on record the tireless efforts made by Joint Directors Dr. V.N. Pandey, IFS and Shri P.C. Tyagi, IFS, Deputy Directors Dr. Alok Saxena, IFS, Shri Sandeep Tripathi, IFS, Smt. Ranjana Gupta, IFS, Shri P.K. Pathak, IFS, Shri S.K. Chakrabarti, ISS and Shri D.L. Meena, ISS and Assistant Directors Shri M.S. Bisht, Shri P.K. Sarkar and Senior Technical Assistant Shri Sanjay Aggarwal. The translation of report in Hindi done by the Hindi officer Smt. Neeraj Gandhi and the services rendered by Shri I.H.Rizvi, Ramesh Chand, J.K. Jain, and Miss Pratima Saini in word processing the report is also acknowledged.

Dr. Devendra Pandey
Director
Forest Survey of India