Assessment of Vegetation Recovery after Forest Fire

The land cover of burned area has changed dramatically since Daxinganling forest fire in Northeastern China during May 6 ? June 4, 1987. This research focused on determining the burn severity and assessment of forest recovery. Burned severity was classified into three levels from June 1987 Landsat TM data acquired just after the fire. A regression model was established between the forest canopy closure from 1999 forest stand map and the NDVI values from June 2000 Landsat ETM+ data. The map of canopy closure was got according to the regression model. And vegetation cover was classified into four types according to forest closure density. The change matrix was built using the classified map of burn severity and vegetation recovery. Then the change conversions of every forest type were analyzed. Results from this research indicate: forest recovery status is well in most of burned scars; and vegetation change detection can be accomplished using postclassification comparison method.