SIGNIFICANCE

Managing natural resources in wide-scale areas can be highly time and resource consuming task, which requires significant amount of data collection in the field and reduction of the data to provide the necessary information. This data are very useful in decision making particularly in resources planning, allocation, and protection.

LiDAR remote sensing technology has recently become an effective tool for use in applications of natural resources mapping and management. In the field of forestry, the LiDAR measurements of the forested areas can provide high quality data on three-dimensional characterizations of forest structures, wildlife habitat analysis, predictive fire-fuels modeling, and watershed analysis. In agriculture, LiDAR measurements can be proved to be useful in discriminating various agricultural crops when properly calibrated. As such, it can be used to monitor and/or assess agricultural crops, area viz-a-viz with their geographical location or proximity to hazard prone areas. Proximity analysis of important resources to hazard prone areas is very important consideration in decision making.

Accuracy of LiDAR Technology is evident and acknowledged by many government and commercial sector. Thus, the need for precise and accurate extraction of data as a baseline for mapping of important resources in Region I is therefore vital. This will provide more reliable information for decision making in the protection and utilization of these resources. Thus, ensuring their sustainability and profitability. This will also offer new windows of opportunity for future research and development related to these resources.