Data Acquisition, Methods and Techniques Applied in Sustainable Forest Management and Hazard Mapping

Dear Colleagues,

In the current context of urban area expansion, population growth, and the increase in industrial and agricultural activity near forest areas, the importance of sustainable forest management (SFM) with hazard mapping and monitoring is imperative. The backbone to many applications of SFM and hazard mapping is the access to accurate and efficiently acquired geospatial data. Because forests are one of the most complex ecological systems on Earth, forest management and inventory was always a challenge to specialists, researchers, and public authorities. In addition to the constant issues related to social, economic, and legal aspects related to forest management, the technical aspects have progressed significantly and modern data acquisition has never been more accessible to the public and research sector. This Special Issue aims to present and promote original scientific contributions in regard to modern and efficient data acquisition in a wide range of interdisciplinary applications related to sustainable forest management and natural hazards within forests. Thus, new tools and best practices, both in terms of data capture and in their processing and modelling, can be implemented in this rapidly evolving field.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• New tools and techniques in tree and forest measurement;
• Dendrometry, from the traditional forest inventory to modern solutions and practices;
• Land surveying in forests, from the established topographic field instrumentations (total stations, GNSS systems, TLS, etc.) to the new methods based on optical remote sensing (UAV or airborne platforms for LiDAR and digital photogrammetry, InSAR, satellite images, etc.);
• Challenges and advances in forest cadastre;
• Integrating models, methods, techniques and tools for geospatial applications in forestry;
• GIS applications in forest management, policy, and decision-making;
• Best practices, guidelines, and planning using acquired or open-sourced geospatial data;
• Mapping and monitoring urban forests;
• Precision forestry for SFM;
• Integration of field data and sensors in decision support systems;
• Spatial analysis and the influence of geographical origin on tree characteristics;
• Geospatial data for landscape and ecology assessment;
• Techniques for vegetation structure modelling and biomass assessment;
• Forest dynamics and the environmental/ecological implications;
• Forest hazard susceptibility and mapping based on acquired geospatial data;
• Assessment of landslides and flash floods in forests based on geomatics tools;
• Disaster prevention and risk mitigation of forest hazards based on geostatistics and field data.

Dr. Paul Sestras
Prof. Dr. Ștefan Bilașco
Prof. Dr. Mihai Nita
Dr. Sanda Roșca
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.