AERIAL AND SATELLITE SENSOR DETECTION OF KALMIA-ANGUSTIFOLIA AT FOREST REGENERATION SITES IN CENTRAL NEWFOUNDLAND

The regeneration of black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) in central Newfoundland following disturbance by fire or logging can be impeded by the ericaceous shrub Kalmia augustifolia L. This study was initiated to use multi-spectral aerial (Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager) and satellite (Landsat Thematic Mapper) remote sensing to detect the presence of kalmia on disturbed sites. Two separate classification schemes were designed to include kalmia and other major cover types such as black spruce, alder, non-kalmia cutovers and wetlands. Discrimination of training samples revealed that kalmia could be detected and mapped with an accuracy of 96 per cent using the aerial data. Over larger areas, kalmia was discriminated-in wetlands, cutovers and burns-with 85 per cent accuracy using the satellite sensor imagery.