Developement of Information System for Forest Reserves in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Select Volume / Issue:

• Volume 1,Issue 6, Nov. 2014

Year:

2014

Type of Publication:

Article

Keywords:

Database, Forest Reserves, Information System, Microsoft SQL, Data Access

Authors:

Alo, Akintunde. A.; Akindele, Shadrach. O.; Onyekwelu, Jonathan C.

Journal:

IJRAS

Volume:

1

Number:

6

Pages:

373-378

Month:

November

Note:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Abstract:

An information system was developed for forest reserves in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected from the field, which comprise stand growth data, geographic coordinates of selected locations within forest reserves, and information on non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in the natural forest. Photographs of the forest reserves were taken as part of the primary data. Growth data were taken from both plantations and natural forests. From the plantations, stands of Gmelina arborea, Tectona grandis and Terminalia superba were inventoried. Four temporary sample plots were randomly selected for enumeration from each age series of each stand. For the natural forest, two transects 500 m apart were laid parallel to each other. Along each transect, four 50m by 50m temporary sample plots were laid adjacent each other at 200m intervals. From each sample plot, growth data were taken as well. Secondary data were also collected, which involved the list of all forest reserves in the State, size, date gazetted, revenue generation records and management practice. Sketched maps of all the forest reserves and satellite imageries of the State were also collected as part of the secondary data obtained. The coordinates and photographs were loaded into ArcView GIS 3.2a for geographical information analysis, which involves vectorization of the raster data model, map production and image processing. Yield estimates of the trees were obtained using Newton’s formula. All the analyzed primary and secondary data were used to generate a database in Microsoft SQL server 2008. The database created by Microsoft SQL server 2008 formed the data access of the software developed using C# Programming Language. The software was developed in an Interactive Development Environment (IDE) using visual studio 2010 Edition. The database generated was user-friendly, adequate and has provision for regular updates.

Full text: IJRAS_81_Final.pdf [Bibtex]