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Remote Sensing and GIS for the Forest Structure Assessment at the Small Basins’ Level in the Apuseni Natural Park. Land use is an important element when dealing with matters related to solid or liquid flow. The changes registered in the land use can be correlated with the results of balance equations for many small basins. Although these changes are characteristic for the built areas, they are specific to the areas where changes in vegetation structure occurred due to deforestation. Taking into account the environmental factors and other elements that the Apuseni Natural Park promotes (social, landscape, etc.) we were able to highlight, through the use of the new monitoring, analysis and calculation techniques available, the manner in which the forest structure in the park is evolving, at the small watersheds’ level. By the use of remote sensing we obtained data for the 1988-2008 land use structure. The resulted data was used as a starting point in the process of developing a GIS model that can deliver data regarding the evolution in the changes at the level of the small watersheds inside the park. This model takes into account both facets of the change process a forest can undergo: afforestation (forest growth over time) and deforestation. Thus, the results obtained have an important significance in establishing the effect of deforestation upon flash-flood formation.

Keywords: Deforestation, water balance equation, Apuseni Natural Park, Remote sensing, GIS model, small watersheds.