A major forest fire occurred in Daxinganling, China, on May 6th, 1987 and kept burning for over one month, causing great damage to the forest (1,330,000 ha). Images of the entire burnt area were extracted from data provided by the American satellite NOAA/AVHRR taken in 1988 and 1996. Using the maximum likelihood method, the vegetation types in the burnt area, called Tahe, were classified with an accuracy of over 94% and 100% in 1988 and 1996, respectively. Based on the satellite information and ground surveys, the pixels in the study area (13.3×10
5 ha) were classified into the following types : conifers (6.0×10
5 ha), hardwood (1.3×10
5 ha), shrubs (1.9×10
5 ha), mixed forest (1.8×10
5 ha), grass (1.1×10
5 ha), others (1.2×10
5 ha). Correlating the volume of timber and the vegetation index (NDVI) calculated from the satellite data, the volume of timber in each pixel was estimated and mapped for each forest type (conifer and hardwood) and for each level of damage. The average timber volumes of conifer and hardwood were 166 and 37 m
3ha
-1 in 1988, and 469 and 179 m
3ha
-1 in 1996, respectively, for all burnt areas covered by ground survey. The satellite data for the same month in different years (1986 and 1996) and the results from ground surveys suggested that the vegetation coverage had almost fully recovered. Therefore, it was indicated that a healthy forest ecosystem would be regained even after a large scale fire.
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