Development of an integrated range management decision support system

Planning and management decisions concerning forest resources require the integration of large volumes of disparate information from numerous sources, which in turn, need different techniques and tools. The present work attempts to develop an integrated range management decision support system (IRMDSS) to provide an interactive decision support tool for forest planners in the Western Ghats of India, which is one of the ecologically important areas of the Earth. The IRMDSS interface combines individual technologies such as remote sensing, a geographic information system (GIS) and a knowledge based system. The prototype IRMDSS was developed by customizing ARCVIEW GIs software and coupling it other software using dynamic link libraries. The IRMDSS prototype provides forest planners and managers a better means of organizing, accessing, and evaluating a wide range of information and alternative strategies for effective forest planning and management in the study area. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.