Changing Regimes: Forested Land Cover Dynamics in Central Siberia 1974 to 2001

The Twentieth century saw fundamental shifts in northern Eurasian political and land-management paradigms, in Russia culminating in the political transition of 1991. We used the 1972 to 2001 Landsat archive bracketing this transition to observe change trends in southern central Siberian Russia in primarily forested study sites. Landsat resolved conifer, mixed, deciduous and young forest; cuts, burns, and insect disturbance; and wetland, agriculture, bare, urban, and water land covers. Over 70 percent of forest area in the three study sites was likely disturbed prior to 1974. Conifer forest decreased over the 1974 to 2001 study period, with the greatest decrease1974 to 1990. Logging activity (primarily in conifers) declined more during the 1991 to 2001 post-Soviet period. The area of young forest increased more during the 1974 to 1990 time period. Deciduous forest increased over both time periods. Agriculture declined over both time periods contributing to forest regrowth in this region.