Facilitator: The Delphi Group & Tessellate Inc.
The Issue: FPInnovations’ Strategy has established targets for forest inventory remote sensing costs. Traditionally in British Columbia (BC), forest inventory information is collected infrequently, through photo interpretation and ground-based surveys. It tends to present accuracy and timing challenges for operational planning and it is unsuitable for timber inventory (block or stand and landscape levels). By contrast, timber inventory at the block level (i.e., timber cruising) is conducted based on more intensely field sampling and typically does not include remotely sensed information. It’s main objective is to provide detailed information on the distribution of wood volume in the block by species, quality and dimension (usually summarized in the log grades). Remotely sensed timber inventory information for operational or tactical purposes, provides an opportunity to transform current practices and later adapt and extend them elsewhere in Canada. Today, ground-based survey for timber appraisal and for forest inventory costs range between $25-100 per ha, depending on access and on the type of data acquired.
The Challenge: FPInnovations members are seeking to identify and commercialize innovations that can dramatically reduce the costs associated with this process, while maintaining or improving accuracy. This challenge is designed to provide improvements to the Timber Inventory.
We have received a large number of high-quality submissions and would like to thank the entrepreneurs who participated.