The Use of Geotechnologies in the Analysis of Forest Fires in the Floresta Estadual Edmundo Navarro de Andrade, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil

2. Departamento de Ciências Florestais, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz” (ESALQ), Universidade de São Paulo (USP), SP, Brazil

Abstract: The management of the Conservation Units can contribute to the mapping and planning in order to ensure the sustainability of these areas. Geotechnologies such as free QGIS software together with Google Earth, assist in the forest management process, allowing constant monitoring of land use and occupation. In this work, the free software QGIS was used to classify the land use and occupation of the “Floresta Estadual Edmundo Navarro de Andrade”, located in the city of Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil, with the following classes: forest, eucalyptus, palm trees, water body, constructed area and exposed soil. A fieldwork was also done in the study area to identify subclasses of land use and survey of the occurrence of forest fires in the years 2012 up to 2018. In the analysis of forest fires, an environmental impact assessment will be proposed to this cause in the environment. It was verified that there is a need for constant monitoring so that forest fires do not occur, especially during the dry season. With the information acquired through QGIS it is possible for forest managers to better plan the reforestation of the exposed soil areas, improving the various environmental services, thus serving as an environmental tool for the prevention of future fires.