Survey of Reforestation Area in Mok Cham Royal Project Using a Handheld GPS

Abstract

       The research objectives for this study are to 1) collect the coordinates of a reforestation boundary using a handheld GPS 2) create a reforestation database using Geographic Information System (GIS) and 3) conduct an analysis of plant survival and its relationship with the distance to a farmer’s home, the topographic height and the slope. This study included a survey of 52 farmers who are members of the reforestation project for the Mok Cham Royal Project, Amphoe Mae Ai, Changwat Chiang Mai. Data was collected using a handheld GPS to explore the boundary of the reforestation plots of the 52 farmers and it was found that 61 plots had been planted which contained a total of 39,948 trees. There are two types of planting which included fenced planting (43 percent) and agroforestry (57 percent). The coordinates obtained from the handheld GPS contains an average error of 7.36 meters. The analysis by GIS also found that the distribution of the reforestation plantation was most concentrated near the community at an altitude of 401 to 500 meters above sea level with slopes at 35 to 50 percent. The Chan Thongthet (Fraxinus griffi thii C.B. Clarke) had the highest survival rate at 77.59 percent. Survival rates correlated with the distance from the farmer’s house, the altitude and the slope with simple correlation coefficients (r) values 0.27, 0.17 and 0.26. The coefficient of determination ( ) values were 0.07, 0.03 and 0.07. It can be concluded that the survival rate of the plants may not be highly correlated with the distance to the farmer’s house, the altitude and the slope.