Assessing the Forest Cover Changes of Yankari Game Reserve Using Remote Sensing Techniques

Abstract

This paper aim at assessing the Forest cover changes of Yankari game reserve in Nigeria using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The vegetation of the area consist of Savannah grass land with-developed patches of woodland. The study determine the land cover changes of the area using Land sat 4 imagery for the year 1990 and Land sat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+7) for 2001 and 2011. The imageries were processed and classified using maximum likelihood classifier. The results revealed that there is a drastic decline in the vegetation cover over the period of the study. The percentage changes from forest cover to grassland was 22.93% from 1990-2001, 24.48% from 2001-2011 and 35.52% from 1990-2011.Also forest changes to open space was 18.29%, from 1990-2001, 7.78% from 2001-2011 and 13.64% from 1990-2011.While forest change to agriculture was 0.50% from 1990-2001, 2.15% from 2001-2011 and 2.98% from 1990-2011. An overall accuracy assessment of 71% for Landsat 1990, 65%, and 64% for ETM+ for 2001 and 2011 respectively. The game reserve is facing a threat in the disappearance of its forest cover and wildlife extinction in no distance time. The use remote sensing and GIS approach allowed us to quantify the extent of the forest cover changes in terms of percentages of the area affected, the rate of change as well as the nature of the change in terms of impact on natural vegetation.