Forestry management
Responsible forestry management involves the practices of forest stewardship to achieve a healthy preservation of the natural and cultural ecosystem, while promoting sustainable harvest and commercialization of timber products.
An industry in search of the holy grail: sustainable revenue
The forest management and timber industries in Canada and the US are currently in a transition process towards greater transparency and better governance practices. Current challenges include:
The creation and approval of forest management plans and harvest plans is a manual, burdensome process with few opportunities for coordination with long-term forest stewardship strategies
Federal and local authorities lack data and tools to regulate harvesting activities and forest road building in their jurisdiction. As a consequence, forestry companies are in charge of planning and execution of harvest plans that take no or limited input from forest owners, which creates a risk for both sides.
Entities in charge of forest stewardship and harvesting do not have tools to engage effectively with First Nations and Indigenous communities living within, or in the vicinity of, harvested areas, and consider their constraints and preferences.
Static harvesting plans do not take into account volatility in wood prices (which was very high e.g., during COVID-19), inflation, fuel prices, or operational costs. Thus, plans may lose their commercial feasibility before they expire. In some cases, domestic forest activity needs to be decreased and timber be imported from third countries with lower sustainability standards.
Climate change is triggering modifications in biodiversity environments, forest species and growth models, and wildfire risks and characteristics. This put data layers on forest inventory and biodiversity requirements at risk of becoming obsolete.
Uncertain times are an opportunity for modernization and improvement of established decision-making processes. The forest management and harvest industry is pushing towards sustainable management in different aspects.
Sustainability aspects
Long-term revenue from timber products
Preservation of forest species and biodiversity
Respect of forest areas of cultural significance
Preservation of forest ages of natural or cultural significance
Mitigation of crown fire risk
Carbon capture
Sustainability aspects
Long-term revenue from timber products
Preservation of forest species and biodiversity
Respect of forest areas of cultural significance
Preservation of forest ages of natural or cultural significance
Mitigation of crown fire risk
Carbon capture
Digitalization promoting transparent coordination and governance
The most critical coordination interface to improve is between forest owners/managers and harvest planners. These personas have to work together to achieve a forest plan that schedules forest stands for logging and thinning. However, while both have common constraints and are driven by regulations, goals and preferences of both sides often diverge:
Forest managers seek maximization of multiple goals, including timber revenue, but also forest preservation and carbon sequestration. They need to guarantee a sustainable forest inventory considering growth projections, to guarantee both revenue generation and biodiversity in the future.
Harvest planners seek maximization of timber sales revenue considering demand, price for timber products and mill locations, while minimizing operational supply chain costs and transport emissions. They may consider long-term revenue sustainability but are driven by market decisions.
New toolsets are required that allow forest owners to simulate scenarios of harvesting in their first and quantify results and impact across monetary and non-monetary dimensions. This same tool can be used by harvesters, thus both stakeholders have the same visibility on the impact of the plan.
This type of capability supports sensitivity analysis on marginal profit variations and environmental changes in wood and fuel prices in order to promote educated decision-making to prepare for potential challenging scenarios (e.g., by optimizing fleets or supply chain networks, or optimizing available tree inventory of different wood types). Skymantics is a pioneer in this type of capabilities through the use of interoperable geospatial data (Learn more) and Artificial Intelligence (Learn more).
Our goal is to develop effective data platforms supporting the forestry management planning processes based on scientific data and public participation, guaranteeing transparency of commonly agreed decisions which take into account the interests of Indigenous communities, Government policies, and business continuity of the Canadian forestry industry. This type of capability would empower all stakeholders to set constraints and preferences in order to maximize collective rewards within such conditions.
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