ABSTRACT
The present study focuses on the role of remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) in assessment of changes in forest cover, between 1931 and 2001, in the Kalrayan hills, Tamil Nadu. The trend of forest cover changes over the time span of 70 years, was precisely analysed using high resolution Satellite data. The study revealed that the forest cover was 275.6, 481.7 and 266.5 sq.km in 1931, 1971 and 2001 respectively. It was noticed that forest cover has increased between 1931 and 1971, because of the implementation of various afforestation schemes by the forest department and scared grooves. It also revealed that the forest cover loss between 1971 and 2001 could be due to Shifting cultivation and illegal encroachments by villagers; and the forest cover drastically decreased on plateau areas due to human population pressure. The study analyses the forest cover change in the tropical deciduous forest region of the Eastern Ghats of India. It is envisaged that the study would prove the usefulness of Remote Sensing and GIS in forest restoration planning.