1 Introduction

Welcome! This website serves as the information hub for the Integration of Photo Interpreted and LiDAR Attributes into a Polygonal Forest Inventory Framework project. The project is led by Prof. Nicholas Coops from 2021-2023 and made possible through a Forestry Futures Trust Ontario grant. Here you will find details about the project partners, project objectives, and analyses completed including coding demos and results. For further inquiries please feel free to email me.

1.1 Project Summary

The acquisition of Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) Single Photon Lidar over the forested area of Ontario is redefining how forest attributes are predicted and monitored throughout the Province. A key question remains however, of how to aggregate these area-based (raster) estimates of forest attributes into traditional strategic or tactical-level inventory polygons. This project is designed to address this need. Outcomes of the project will be open source segmentation and attribute prediction tools to develop a polygon based forest inventory inclusive of both ALS and interpreted forest stand attributes as well as knowledge transfer activities and demonstration at a number of forest management units.

1.2 Project Partners

This project is principally a partnership between the University of British Columbia, GreenFirst Forest Products, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, and Forestry Futures Trust Ontario.

GreenFirst Forest Products (previously RYAM Forest Management) and the University of British Columbia have a history of successful collaboration including the use of LiDAR and aerial photogrammetry for spruce budworm assessment and regeneration mapping. This project will also build upon the very strong links UBC has with the Canadian Wood Fiber Centre (CWFC), which has thus far culminated in more than 20 peer-reviewed publications on CWFC-funded work, including the award winning best practices guide.

In addition, UBC, GreenFirst Forest Products and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry are involved in a large NSERC funded project, Silv@21, which is a collaborative research program across Canada focused on developing and applying new silvicultural approaches to forest management under changing forestry demand and markets, climate and diverse public expectations. The questions addressed throughout this project are beyond the scope of Silv@21 and therefore an additional effort was needed.

Working with the province and industry with advanced remote sensing data sources such as ALS ensures that the new forest inventory provides detailed information on forest composition and structure to inform how much wood can be harvested sustainably across the province. By developing tools which allow for integration of raster-based forest inventory attributes from the ALS and utilizing the recognized benefits of the Forest Resources Inventory (FRI) polygonal inventory, Forestry Futures Trust Ontario has the opportunity to advance forest inventory within Ontario in a significant way.

Issues around data management, modeling and fusion of these datasets together into one integrated accurate and operational inventory is of critical importance. This project provides open access tools and methodologies to allow this to be done.

The partnerships assembled through private industry, government and universities to address the needs highlighted in this project are critically important and are in direct support of the new Ontario Forest Sector strategy and the Crown Forest Sustainability Act by providing foundational information for economically sustainable forest management planning and spatial planning in the Province.