Digital forestry is the use of digital data and tools across forest management: remote sensing, machine data, field apps, models and business records. The term was set out in a 2005 white paper in the Journal of Forestry, which defined it as "the science, technology, and art of systematically acquiring, integrating, analyzing, and applying digital information to support sustainable forests".
What it covers
The toolset has grown since 2005. LiDAR and satellite imagery measure forests from above. Harvesters record every stem. Drones and field apps collect plot data. Growth models, planning tools and AI turn the data into forecasts and plans. Recent writing often calls the whole set Forest 4.0.
The part that lags
In our view, the weak point for organisations rich in sensors is the second verb in the definition: integrating. A 2024 review of Forest 4.0, citing earlier work, lists "lack of standards, interoperability, and high implementation costs" among the issues. It also describes standardisation and interoperability as serious obstacles in the sector. A business may hold a LiDAR inventory, harvester files, scale tickets and a financial system that share no common identifiers.
That isn't everyone's position. Many smaller owners still work from periodic cruises, paper tickets and spreadsheets. For them, acquiring and digitising the data comes before joining it.
What integration makes possible
Joined data can answer questions no single source can. From Quarri's own work with a forestry operation: a 15-day harvest forecast, trained on four years of daily data, was cross-validated to within about 260 tonnes a day.
What it isn't
Digital forestry isn't a product, and it covers far more than remote sensing. It is a way of working in which forest data is collected, joined and used in decisions, from the stand plan to the mill gate.
Quarri for forest management is built around how a forest operation runs, from the cruise to the settled account.
Sources
- Zhao, Shao, Reynolds, Wimberly, Warner, Moser and others, "Digital Forestry: A White Paper", Journal of Forestry 103(1): 47 to 50, 2005: link.springer.com
- "Digital transformation of the future of forestry: an exploration of key concepts in the principles behind Forest 4.0", Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 2024: frontiersin.org
- Quarri evidence ledger, E19 (proven)
Quarri is an AI-native data platform for the timber supply chain. It connects buying, production, sales and inventory for forest management, sawmill, wood products and pulp, paper and packaging operators.