Contribution of natural forest protection project to the stability and restoration of forest vegetation in Changbai mountain

To detect the trend of vegetation change in Changbai mountain, analyze the dynamic changes in vegetation and its stability, and reveal the impact of the natural forest resource protection project on vegetation restoration in Changbai mountain. This study aims to provide scientific reference and key data support for vegetation restoration and ecological environment protection in the area.

The Quanyang Forestry Bureau on the northwest slope of Changbai mountain was taken as the research area. Surface reflectance data provided by Landsat series satellites from 1993 to 2023 were selected using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. After preprocessing and correction, the spatial-temporal dynamic changes of forest vegetation coverage (FVC) in the operational area of Changbai mountain were calculated and analyzed. Using the high-precision land cover classification dataset (GLC_FCS30), land cover data for 1995, 2000, 2010, and 2020 were obtained. Based on the actual conditions, land cover types were divided into evergreen coniferous forest, deciduous coniferous forest, deciduous broadleaf forest, mixed forest, cultivated land, grassland, built-up land, wetland, and water bodies. Combined with Theil-Sen trend analysis and the Mann-Kendall test, the LandTrendr method was used to construct time series data based on the normalized burning rate to detect disturbances in forest vegetation over the past 30 years, and the trend of FVC changes was analyzed in detail.

1) The dominant land use type is deciduous broadleaf forest, and the total area of forest land, wetland, and water increased year by year, while the area of cultivated land significantly decreased. 2) From 1993 to 2023, FVC in the study area recovered to a high vegetation cover level after being seriously damaged, but the forest ecosystem remained unstable. The overall spatial distribution trend is “high in the west and low in the east, high in the north and low in the south”. 3) The annual disturbance area in the study area decreased year by year, mainly in the central region. The disturbance peak in 2014 was caused by the construction of the Heda expressway.

Under the influence of the natural forest resource protection project, forest coverage has been effectively restored and the degree of disturbance has been significantly reduced.