ForestTECH News Issue 46

In Issue Summary by FIEA

Welcome to the latest issue of Foresttech.News.

Planning for ForestTECH 2021 is now well and truly underway. We’re now seeking early expressions of interest to present at this year’s event, which is being held in Rotorua, New Zealand on the 23-24 November 2021. ForestTECH 2021 will also be streaming live to our Australian and international communities.

While we’d normally host the event in Australia as well, issues around post-covid travel and conditions has meant Rotorua is again the best option for this year. We will be expanding on the successful format used last year, where 300+ attendees joined us in-person and online. Mechanised silviculture as well as our traditional tech focus on remote sensing and inventory management will again be covered in 2021. For a full overview of ForestTECH 2021, please check out the website and article below.

This month we have a couple of interesting stories focusing on the early detection of Australian bushfires. The first is a new satellite system from Queensland-based company, Fireball, which is purpose-built for fire detection and will be part of a network offering round the clock detection. Another system, by SFM, uses the specialised Firehawk 360-degree camera to monitor a 30 km radius within plantations. A successful trial has just been completed by the University of Tasmania.

FWPA’s WoodChat podcast has a great discussion on the remote monitoring of Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles and how a fully networked forest would benefit animal and forest management. It’s well worth the listen. You can also find previous WoodChats via this link.

New digital tools also continue to roll out. NZ’s National Elevation Programme provides new high-quality landscape scans and datasets for use by industries like forestry and agriculture. Treemetrics has launched a new app that combines satellite imagery with mobile data to help forest owners map, value and manage their trees.

And finally, Indufor has been using deep-learning algorithms on high-resolution aerial data to help model planted pines and pockets of regenerating native bush. There’s plenty more covered below, so enjoy the read.

There’s plenty more covered below, so enjoy the read.

Remember, you can also send through any contributions, stories or links that we can pass onto the wider community. 

Stories this issue:

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