The study will focus on stratification of the forested areas of Bhutan for National Forest Inventory. The stratification will be based on Forest Types, Topography, Slope, Aspect, Temperature, Rainfall, Watersheds and Sun Hours. The forest types will be based on the existing land use working map of Bhutan. It will be modified using remotely sensed data. Topographic and terrain attributes will be derived based on the SRTM DEM. The climatic surfaces will be produced based on the agroclimatic station data of Bhutan. Hydrological modeling will be applied to derive the watersheds.
The fairly homogeneous comparable mapping units (CMU) will be derived based on the aforementioned factors. The CMU will be used as the basis for selecting the sample sites for designing the inventory for the national scale. Point samples and plot samples will be designed for the flexibility of design selection for national level forest inventory.