Forest school imparts training in use of geospatial tools

Guwahati: Assam Forest School in Jalukbari has enhanced forester training by incorporating contemporary geospatial tools for daily forest management, officials said on Sunday.
Geospatial technologies like GIS and
GPS
provide forest staff with accurate tools for planning, surveillance, and decision-making. According to experts, these tools assist in developing detailed forest coverage maps, monitoring wildlife movements, evaluating habitat change, and supporting evidence-based conservation.
A six-day thematic refresher training on open-source GIS software for forester-I was recently completed at the Assam Forest School, Jalukbari.
As many as 20 forester-I trainees and one junior assistant from across 20 forest divisions across the state participated in the programme.
The training commenced with Preeti Buragorhain, DCF in charge of conservator of forest, Dr Priyasha Saikia, DFO, Guwahati Social Forestry Division, and Dimpi Bora, director of Assam Forest School, Jalukbari, in attendance.
The programme aimed to enhance the technical proficiency of ground-level forest staff through practical training.
"Trainees were introduced to GPS and its applications in forestry and wildlife, GPS and mobile app-based data collection methods, the use of Google Earth Pro in mapping with relevant case studies, an overview of GIS data types and sources, digitisation of points, lines, and polygons in Google Earth Pro, and also included the fundamentals of map composition using QGIS software," a organiser said.
Aaranyak's resource persons conducted the six-day training sessions.
Forest officials highlighted GIS's vital role in their department. With forests facing threats from deforestation, encroachment, and climate change, precise monitoring and management have become crucial, they noted.
The closing ceremony was attended by chief guest Dibakar Deb, a silviculturist. Participants pledged to implement their new skills.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Time of India

6 days ago

• Time of India

Forest school imparts training in use of geospatial tools

Guwahati: Assam Forest School in Jalukbari has enhanced forester training by incorporating contemporary geospatial tools for daily forest management, officials said on Sunday. Geospatial technologies like GIS and GPS provide forest staff with accurate tools for planning, surveillance, and decision-making. According to experts, these tools assist in developing detailed forest coverage maps, monitoring wildlife movements, evaluating habitat change, and supporting evidence-based conservation. A six-day thematic refresher training on open-source GIS software for forester-I was recently completed at the Assam Forest School, Jalukbari. As many as 20 forester-I trainees and one junior assistant from across 20 forest divisions across the state participated in the programme. The training commenced with Preeti Buragorhain, DCF in charge of conservator of forest, Dr Priyasha Saikia, DFO, Guwahati Social Forestry Division, and Dimpi Bora, director of Assam Forest School, Jalukbari, in attendance. The programme aimed to enhance the technical proficiency of ground-level forest staff through practical training. "Trainees were introduced to GPS and its applications in forestry and wildlife, GPS and mobile app-based data collection methods, the use of Google Earth Pro in mapping with relevant case studies, an overview of GIS data types and sources, digitisation of points, lines, and polygons in Google Earth Pro, and also included the fundamentals of map composition using QGIS software," a organiser said. Aaranyak's resource persons conducted the six-day training sessions. Forest officials highlighted GIS's vital role in their department. With forests facing threats from deforestation, encroachment, and climate change, precise monitoring and management have become crucial, they noted. The closing ceremony was attended by chief guest Dibakar Deb, a silviculturist. Participants pledged to implement their new skills.

The Hindu

05-06-2025

• The Hindu

1.39 lakh trees cut under Mangaluru Forest Division in last one year, says DCF

: Dakshina Kannada Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) Anthony S. Mariappa said here on Thursday that 1.39 lakh trees were cut under Mangaluru Forest Division in the last one year for various projects and purposes. Speaking at the launch of citizen-driven greening initiative titled 'Amara', aimed at planting at least 10,000 tree saplings across the city this monsoon, at the Praja Soudha in Padil, the DCF said that many trees were cut for widening the National Highway 75 between B.C. Road and Adda Hole. The trees on about 100 acres were cut for the project, he said. Mr. Mariappa said that the Forest Department will distribute 1.03 lakh saplings for people for planting in this rainy season. In addition, the department will plant 4.17 lakh saplings under the division at various locations. The DCF said that tree-cutting and planting saplings is a continuous process and will have to go together to maintain balance. Some trees will have to be cut for taking up development projects. At the same time saplings will have to be planted. Otherwise temperate will go up and soil will lose its moisture. Meanwhile, 'Amara' is an initiative mooted jointly by the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC), Dakshina Kannada district administration, and Centre for Advanced Learning (CFAL) in collaboration with the Forest Department, ward committees, and citizen groups, to plant saplings in 60 wards of the city. Smitha Hegde, a co-ordinator of the 'Amara' and principal, CFAL Pre-University College, said that 4,500 locations have been identified under the jurisdiction of MCC for planting at least 10,000 saplings before this August. Tree saplings will be planted on the premises of a crematorium at Katipalla, at Bengre on the airport road from Bejai to the airport, at Shivabagh, at Balmatta, Kankanady among the locations identified. All the saplings will be geo tagged. She said that 10 organisations have adopted some road stretches for planting. The Deputy Commissioner in charge K. Anandh and others planted some saplings in the premises of Praja Soudha, which is a complex of government offices, on the occasion. The saplings were planted on the World Environment Day.

Deccan Herald

03-06-2025

• Deccan Herald

DH Impact: MCC removes concrete bases of 108 trees on 8 roads in Mysuru

Mysuru: Mysore City Corporation has cleared concretisation of the bases of 108 trees on a stretch of 11.44km on 8 major roads of Mysuru city after DCF Mysuru territorial division, K N Basavaraju issued directions in this regard following a report in DH. One metre space around tree bases on 1.6 km stretch on Bengaluru-Nilgiri Road – from Five Lights Circle to Fountain Circle as been cleared; 3.09 km stretch of Nelson Mandela Road and Sayyaji Rao Road – from LIC Circle to KR Hospital; 630 metre stretch on Dewans Road; 4.01 km stretch on Vinobha Road; 600 metre stretch on Irwin Road; 170 metre stretch on Bogadi Road; 840 metre stretch from Andolana Circle to Anikethana Road; and 50 metre stretch on Vishwamanava Road in Kuvempu Nagar. MCC Commissioner Sheikh Tanveer Asif informed MNREGA employees stage protest, demand payment of pending 7-month salaries."There were 339 trees on these roads and among them 108 tree bases which were covered, have been cleared," said, MCC Development Commissioner K J Sindhu said. .MCC Commissioner Asif added that they are in the process of attending to the legacy errors to clear all tree bases one by one in the entire city. MCC has even taken permanent steps to prevent concretisation of tree bases in the city in future. MCC has approved a council decision that any person who concretises trees have to deconcritise within months post which they will impose a fine of Rs 2000. Also they have decided that, henceforth all work orders will have conditions that the contractor will restore breathing space for water article published in DH on May 12 2025 had highlighted how most of the tree bases on roadsides in Mysuru are covered with concrete, tar or interlocked pavements, affecting their health, growth, survival with inadequate aeration and percolation of water and nutrition to their roots. It had highlighted judgment of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Sahil Garg Vs State of Punjab that mandates that one-metre radius around the tree base be left un-concretised and filled with soil to facilitate percolation of water to the roots to promote its health and survival. Followed by Report DCF Mysuru territorial division, K N Basavaraju had written a letter to MCC Commissioner Sheikh Tanveer Asif asking him to take measures to de-concretise trees on priority in these eight major roads of the city which they have already surveyed. Meanwhile in a major development, Minister for Environment, Ecology and Forests Eshwar B Khandre has also passed an order on May 22, directing officials to take measures to concretisation of roadside tree bases in all the cities of the State.