ForestTECH | Australian Programme
21-22 November 2023, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Pre-Conference Workhop | Tue 21 Nov 2023
10.00 - 12.00pm
ProFert and APSIM tools for optimising fertiliser use and profitability in plantations
Barrie May, General Manager, TreeMod & Philip Smethurst, Soil, Water and Plant Nutrition Scientist, CSIRO, Australia
11.30am
Registration & Exhibits Open
12.00pm
Lunch & Networking
Conference | DAY ONE
Key Theme: Remote Sensing, Data Capture & Forest Inventory
1.00pm
Opening Introductions
FIEA
1.10 pm
Artificial Intelligence: Is the world at a tipping point?
Opportunities, benefits and challenges of the technology and its adoption.
Jonathan Chang, CEO, Silverpond
1.40pm
Pre-assessment thinning inventory Using drone-based LiDAR
A forest industry case study. First operational use piloted in 2022 and then again in 2023
Sam West, Senior GIS Analyst, Interpine Group, New Zealand & Scott Andrew, Forest Risk & Resource Manager, Juken New Zealand
2.00pm
Australasian designed and built solar-powered stratospheric aircraft
A game-changer for collecting frequent, high-resolution aerial data
Mark Rocket, CEO, Kea Aerospace, New Zealand (remote)
2.20 pm
High-value, low-cost satellite imagery options for AU/NZ foresters
Steve Critchlow, Group Managing Director, Critchlow Geospatial, New Zealand
2.40pm
Forest change and climate change
Keeping a constant eye on your forest for fast assessment and recovery from fire, storm or disease
Noemi Gardonyi, Regional Sales & Project Manager Oceania, SKYLAB, Australia
3.00pm
Afternoon tea & networking
3.30pm
Exploring the potential to link satellite and ground-based data for improved fuel load and moisture mapping, modelling, and monitoring
Mike Sutton, Manager, Innovation & Research, Forestry Corporation NSW
3.50pm
Evaluation of remote sensing approaches for plantation health surveillance
Early results from a joint project comparing satellite and airborne remote sensing methods with traditional forest health assessments to evaluate their relative costs versus benefits in plantation health surveillance
David Bruce, Associate Professor, Flinders University & Christine Stone, Visiting Scientist, NSW DPI Forestry
4.10pm
The current state of satellite information in forestry – how your data travels the globe
James Saunders, Director R&D, Swift Geospatial, South Africa
4.30pm
Using the Internet of Things to monitor and manage moisture in production forestry and landscape fire management
Results from recent operational trials collecting data from different sensors deployed in Tasmanian forests
Mike Ross, CEO, Indicium Dynamics
5.00pm
Technology Showcase
5.15pm
Refreshments & networking social event
Conference | DAY TWO | Wed 22 Nov 2023
Key Theme: Tree Crop Management, Forest Establishment and Mechanised Planting
8.15am
Introduction
FIEA
8.20am
Can a vertical farm improve tree seedling production?
Results from one of the first larger forest operations using this new system to grow its tree stocks
Kenny Hay, Tree Nursery & Seed Resource Manager, Forestry and Land Scotland, Scotland (remote)
8.40am
Transformational nursery technologies?
Opportunities for Vertical Farm Grown Tree Seedlings
Caroline Craggs, Head of Operations APAC, Intelligent Growth Solutions, Singapore
9.00am
Using single tree location inventory to improve the quality & productivity of mechanised thinning operations
Forestry data collected using smartphones and drones. Results from an 8,000ha pine thinning operation by a large Chilean forest company
Anton Holmström, Director of Forestry, Katam Technologies AB, Sweden
9.30am
Mechanised tree pruning
Initial results from a feasibility study on a commercially available remote-controlled and high-rate tree pruning unit to create fuel modified zones in softwood plantations
Braden Jenkin, Managing Director, Sylva Systems
10.00am
Technology Showcase
10.10am
Morning tea & networking
10.40am
A first in australia. two planting seasons with a fully mechanised planting operation.
Results, lessons and payback - from a forest owner’s and contractor’s perspective
Paul Walpole, Director, SSEF Pty Ltd & Paul Wood, Northern Silviculture Manager, HVP
11.10am
A new concept in mechanised planting. Sweden, USA, Canada, Brazil and now NZ
Lessons from early plantings by Pan Pac Forest Products with the PlantMax X2 planting unit
Richard Airey, Forester, Pan Pac Forest Products, New Zealand (remote)
11.40am
Precision silviculture & forest growing technology & innovation
An update on relevant Australian research projects and operational trials
Jodie Mason, Forest Research Manager, Forest & Wood Products Australia
12.00pm
Conference Concludes
Post-Conference Workshop
1.00 - 2.00pm
Advances in forest management planning and operations efficiency
The latest developments in CFForest, a spatially-enabled operations management system developed for Forest Owners. Trimble Forestry has been working on driving efficiency of workflows and features designed to increase the operational efficiency of forestry staff.
Dan Turkington, Business Development Manager, Trimble Forestry, New Zealand