Vegetation Change in the Tumbler Ridge Region, British Columbia from 1940 to 2020

The purpose of this project is to explore changes in vegetation in the Tumbler Ridge region of British Columbia between the 1940s and 2020 and to discuss the relationship to fire urbanization and deforestation. A series of aerial photographs (taken in the 1940s), Landsat 5 remote sensing images (1985), and forest vegetation composite polygons (2020) were classified and analyzed by Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) and Support Vector Machines (SVM) for evaluation Vegetation Composition and Matrix Analysis of Vegetation Change in the Tumbler Ridge Region Using Vegetation Transition Matrix.

The results showed that, between the 1940s and 2020, the area of the broadleaf forest increased from 7.415 km2 to 16.262 km2, and the area of the coniferous forest increased from 12.177 km2 to 23.477 km2, and the area of the mixed forest increased from 23.611 km2 fell to 11.951 km2. The area of shrubs and bare land increased first and then decreased. The transformation of vegetation mainly occurs between the three types of forests and the transformation into bare land.