Mohamed Gana^1,, Azzedine Mohamed Toufik Arfa¹, Mohamed El Habib Benderradji¹, Djamel Alatou¹

Monitoring vegetation cover change and mapping the distribution of forest tree species has been considered as a key issue in sustainable development policies, the purpose of this research is to detect vegetation cover changes over 30 years (1987- 2016), and perform forest type classification by using Multi-Source Satellite Data and field survey investigations in the massive of Djebel El Ouahch. Algeria. The vegetation cover changes were quantified using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) combined with supervised classification methods, based on time series Landsat images. Furthermore, the dominant tree species in the wooded area was estimated using Google Earth imagery, the fieldwork was done simultaneously with a visual interpretation of Google Earth images, the thematic maps were prepared and accuracy assessment results are considered satisfactory. The results revealed that the cropland and non-vegetated areas have increased by 22%, and 6.22% respectively. In contrast, significant spatial reduction in natural vegetation was observed. Both of Moderate and dense vegetation were decreased by 26.23% and 1.98%, respectively, the current results play an important role in any planning process and indicating the necessity to create a new strategy based on protecting the natural vegetation and plants diversity.

vegetation, NDVI, Djebel El Ouahch, tree species, mountainous