Hamdi Zurqani

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A new dataset is providing a bird’s-eye view of Arkansas’ forests 1 meter at a time. An Arkansas researcher has developed the first high-resolution forest canopy cover dataset for an entire state, providing valuable insights for forest management and conservation to a major economic sector in Arkansas. “No data of this kind existed before for an entire state. Usually, people only create similar data for site-specific projects,” said Hamdi Zurqani, assistant professor for the College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. The 1-meter measurements are unique. Until now, the most common forest measurements and datasets have come from satellite imagery at 30-meter spatial resolution, said Zurqani, who conducts research as part of the Arkansas Forest Resources Center. The experiment station is the research arm of the Division of Agriculture.