The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Dr S N Rai, in a clarification to the news item, "Dense Malnad Forests denuded' published in these columns on June 29, has stated that the satellite imagery data of forest cover does not specifically mean that the statutory forests (control of forest department) are lost or degraded. In a letter, he has said that the Karnataka State Forest Report-2001 itself says that any direct comparison of 2001 assessment with 1999 assessment would be invalid because of total change in the interpretation techniques.