PRECISION FORESTRY

It was bound to happen. Precision farming applications are being developed for forestry, spawning a new field called "precision forestry". In spite of all the rhetoric of sustainable development, precision forestry plays right into industrial agriculture, unsustainable corporate forestry, monoculture tree plantations and GMO trees. It also plays into the carbon trade and sequestration and "environmental services" eco-technocrat bandwagon

Here's the USDA's take:

Because trees are not the only landscape feature distinguishable from satellite imagery (one can see water, grassland, brush, rocks, and so forth), detailed measurements of land features can be used by many types of land managers and policymakers. In addition, as remotely sensed data are combined with digital terrain data and ground-based inventory data, a detailed landscape picture can be formed.

Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) uses laser sensors to analyze forests in a 3-D format to generate the vertical structure of forest canopies, as well as the topography on which they reside. With tree height and canopy information, it is possible to readily estimate tree diameter and biomass, among other forest characteristics. Biomass estimates are important for projecting carbon storage. Because wood is a primary economic resource, much effort has also been placed in estimating timber volume and value and allocating parts of each tree to its optimal wood products. These estimates allow landowners to manage forestlands more effectively and to reduce waste as wood goes to the proper processing mills.

Oh, and there's a symposium coming up in October:

The event's overview says:

Precision forestry employs high-resolution data to support site-specific decision-making. It provides highly repeatable measurements, actions, and processes to initiate, cultivate, and harvest trees, as well as, enhance riparian zones, wildlife habitat, and other environmental resources. It provides valuable information linkages between resource managers and processors. Precision forestry will support the development of precise forest plans that can be implemented accurately and subjected to rigorous review.

Here's something about remote sensing applications in precision forestry:

I can imagine the use of sophisticated multi-spectral satellite imagery to monitor carbon sinks in the third world. These sinks can take up anywhere from thousands to even millions of acres of land, making them a new focus of land disputes and environmental conflict in the not too distant future. Such satellite imagety will be employed to ensure the "efficient" administration of vast monocultures of genetically engineered trees and privatized elite nature reserves (for ecotourism, biopiracy and high-priced export organic agriculture). Welcome to the world of militarized, postmodern, neoliberal ecology.