Research Article Volume 2 Issue 1 - March 2017 DOI: 10.19080/IJESNR.2017.02.555580 Int J Environ Sci Nat Res Copyright © All rights are reserved by Abdul Qayum Natural Resource Mapping Using Landsat and Lidar towards Identifying Digital Elevation, Digital Surface and Canopy Height Models Firoz Ahmad 1 , Laxmi Goparaju 1 and Abdul Qayum 2 * 1 Vindhyan Ecology and Natural History Foundation, Mirzapur, India 2 Department of Environment and Forest, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, India Submission: March 14, 2017; Published: March 27, 2017 *Corresponding author: Abdul Qayum, Department of Environment and Forest, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, India, Email: Introduction The natural resources signifying available land, water and forest have been serving the mankind by providing valuable services like food items, fuel and fodder, important medicines, regulating the air and water currents, protecting the soil and its components etc. FAO [1]. Moreover still the rural livelihood in every country is dependent on these natural resources and its condition for their sustainability and livelihood World Bank [2]. The major factors like population growth agriculture expansion and increased human well-being have been at the cost of forest depletion. The exponential increase in human population from seven billion to nine billion in the coming years has increased pressure on natural resources which are depleting at a faster rate than expected Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [3]. Further, the analysis of Ivanova et al. [4] has confirmed that some of the ecosystem services are at stake. We may soon face water scarcity, flooding of cities (because of degradation of wetlands) and increase in temperatures (because of overgrazing and overexploitation of forest trees). Sustainable use of the natural resources would prevent further loss. As defined by Norwegian Ministry for the Environment [5] Sustainability means “the use of services and related products which respond to essential needs and ensure a better quality of life while minimizing the utilization of natural resources and toxic materials as well as control the emissions of waste and pollutants over the life-cycle so as not to jeopardize/ threaten the needs of future generations”. Thus, a detailed management plan for the natural resource is needed which would identify clear objectives, evaluate existing natural resources and its uses to develop long term plans. To achieve this, a reliable geo-information database is required to prepare action plans for sustainable development at micro level. Natural resources assessment can be made using these parameters which would help the forest managers in multiple ways Hudak et al. [6]. These days satellite remote sensing data like LANDSAT, LiDAR etc are available for free download, which open up the opportunity for many researchers, government authority, and stakeholders for creation of data base on natural resources Kennaway et al. [7]. Int J Environ Sci Nat Res 2(1): IJESNR.MS.ID.555580 (2017) 001 Abstract The evaluation of the natural resource plays a decisive role in management and sustainable developmental planning. The study aims to generate natural resource based maps of rural areas of the USA using remote sensing datasets such as Landsat and LiDAR to analyze generated natural resources for developing digital elevation (DEM) and canopy height models (CHMs). Natural resource maps were generated using Landsat image of the year 2010. The area statistics reveal that the tree class percent (23.21 %) was the second highest after fallow land class (60.44 %) whereas shrubs and grass/agriculture was 6.59 % and 6.47 %, respectively. Later, LiDAR datasets for the same time were used to generate DEM/surface models (DSM) and CHMs. Spatial analysis was done to attempt hypothetical queries pertaining to resource management. Further, all the generated datasets from different sources including slope map, drainage map etc can be integrated in GIS domain for effective decision making. Coarse resolution Landsat data can be effectively used to monitor natural resources up to micro level if used skillfully in conjugation with rectified images. LiDAR datasets have huge potential to generate highly accurate DEM, DSM and CHMs. Such accurate data will be informative for qualitative and quantitative assessment of various natural resources. Keywords: Canopy Height model; DEM; DSM; Landsat; LiDAR; Natural Resource Map