Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS)
Queensland is a large state, 1.7 million square kilometers in area, with 81 million hectares of woodland and forests. The Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) project provides policy makers, industry and community interest groups, and landholders with:
- accurate information on woody vegetation cover
- information on changes in the cover
- mapping and statistical information.
In recent years, land clearing (or deforestation) has become an increasingly controversial topic in the natural resource debate that contrasts the economic aspects of land development with the ecological need to conserve biodiversity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The SLATS project is a major vegetation monitoring initiative to investigate the overall cover of woody vegetation, and to report on the previously unquantified extent of land clearing in Queensland using scientifically developed and tested methods. These methods combine field verification and computer processing using state-of-the-art remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies.
Some of the project's aims are to:
- contribute to the monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions
- assist in vegetation management planning and compliance
- provide updates for the Queensland Herbarium's regional ecosystem mapping program.
Last updated: 28 September 2009