Preparing forest use maps using geographical information systems

In general, forest can be examined in various groups according to their contributions to society. Unlike developed countries, in developed countries the main components of the forest contributions to the nations economy are the primary and secondary forest products. The other components of the forest contributions namely those that can not be measured monetarily are the protection and balance of the forest values such as, the regulation of the water regime and the contribution to the tourism. These values are so far underestimated. Developed countries prepared their multiple forest resource maps since 1960s, showing the coincidence of conditions important for planning and management. Geographic Information Systems can foster better decision-making by allowing forest managers to conduct analyses that would be impractical or infeasible otherwise. GIS was designed for the collection, storage and analyses of spatial forest information in ways that could not be done otherwise. Research forest of the university of the faculty, the general area of which is about 8000 hectares was chosen for this study. The forest use map was prepared for this area using the data collected from the field and taken from some organizations. Using Arc/Info programe, the research area was classified into six different uses, each of which has its functions including soil protection, water conservation, natural conservation, recreation, fiber production and scientific studies. Finally, according to the forest function maps which were developed in this research, of the research area were left to are scientifically and 3035.71 hectares for production, 2886.03 hectares for natural conservation -composed of 168.62 hectares for natural conservation, 263.83 hectares for protection from human effects) and 163.90 hectares for recreation purposes.Key Words: Forest Use Map, Geographical Information Systems, Forest Management, Multiple Use Management