Identification and Classification of Forest Types using Data Landsat 8 in Karo, Dairi, and Samosir Districts, North Sumatra

Forests have important roles in terms of carbon storage and other values. Various studies have been conducted to identify and distinguish the forest from non-forest classes. Several forest types classes such as secondary forests and plantations should be distinguished related to the restoration and rehabilitation program for dealing with climate change. The study was carried out to distinguish several classes of important forests such as the primary dryland forests, secondary dryland forest, and plantation forests using Landsat 8 to develop identification techniques of specific forests classes. The study areas selected were forest areas in three districts, namely Karo, Dairi, and Samosir of North Sumatera Province. The results showed that using composite RGB 654 of Landsat 8 imagery based on test results OIF for the forest classification, the forests could be distinguished with other land covers. Digital classification can be combined with the visual classification known as a hybrid classification method, especially if there are difficulties in border demarcation between the two types of forest classes or two classes of land covers