In this thesis, a detailed study on channel characterization and modeling of the forested environment for military applications such as surveillance and battlefield communication networks is undertaken. The scenarios of military applications such as communication systems mounted on vehicles or carried by soldiers, require knowledge of near-ground radio wave propagation in forests at VHF and UHF bands. In this research study, a series of experimental work was carried out in different types of foliage plantations, forested depth, and weather conditions, to examine the effects of radio wave propagation through forested paths. The path loss in the forests, for near-ground communication systems, can be empirically modeled using well-known through-vegetation loss models with the ground reflection taken into consideration. Depending on the type of forests or plantations, the through-vegetation loss models such as Weissberger, ITU-R, COST235 and FITU-R models can be used to model the forested propagation loss.