Eden
1980 - 1988
This case study is from the area around Eden in southern NSW. This location
has been the site of many conflicts and confrontations over forest issues
- particularly those relating to the harvesting of old-growth forests for
woodchips. Again, because of difficulties caused by cloud in this coastal
area, the looking back period is restricted to just eight years, from 1980
to 1988.
Use your browser to open each image
in a new window to compare them.
Forest landcover change in the Eden area of NSW during the period 14/12/80
to 25/02/88. The large area with the greenish signature is the footprint
of wildfire that occurred just before the date this image was acquired.
In eight years, the regrowth of this forest was such that it is difficult
to detect the fire footprint at all. The landuse of forestry is detectable
as patterns of clearing and regrowth (logging coups) which are small and
circular. In the 1980 scene, they can be detected within the fire footprint
as harvesting was accelerated to salvage as many logs as possible. In addition,
the logging roads that interconnect the coups can be detected. Do the size
and distribution, as well as the spread of the coups differ between 1980
and 1988? How many times larger is the area burnt than the total area of
forest logged?
The change detectable in the FCC images between the two dates is so great
that the Difference FCC image is almost unnecessary. The large area with
the greenish signature can be interpreted, by its shape, to be the footprint
of wildfire. This wildfire occurred just before the date this image was
acquired. It began inland and burned to the sea. It was an extremely hot
fire and the footprint is almost completely burned. Only near the centre
of this image can small unburnt patches be seen.
The landuse of forestry is detectable as patterns of clearing and regrowth
similar to those found in the Hobart image. In this Eden image the harvesting
patterns are smaller, because of the more rugged terrain, and circular.
These are the logging coups wherein clear felling is practised, principally
for woodchips. In the 1980 scene, these coups can be detected within the
fire footprint as salvage forest harvesting was undertaken.
My interpretation is that the spatial patterning, the size and distribution,
as well as the spread of the coups differs between the 1980 and 1988 images.
My assessment is that the coups were less sympathetically located within
the landscape in 1980 than in 1988. Colleagues with ground experience in
that area agree. The changes in the patterns of forest harvesting were the
consequence of a better understanding of the impacts of the clear felling
in 1988 than was available in 1980.
One of the questions we are trying to answer here can be rephrased: how
much larger than the total area of forest logged is the area that was burnt
in this one wildfire? What does this tell us about the relative importance
of forest landuse compared with the other possible disturbances, such as
wildfire and agricultural clearing, on all the resources offered by these
forests? If you recall, forests offer the resources of timber, water, wildlife
conservation, recreation, and spiritual enrichment.
