‘Eye-in-the-sky’ satellite technology originally developed for military purposes can help give foresters the information they need to plan and manage sustainable forests.
This was the message to about 150 foresters and forestry scientists gathered at the international ForestSAT conference in Edinburgh on August 6.
Forestry Commission director-general David Bills, opening the conference, said space-age information-gathering technologies had a direct relevance to the World Summit on Sustainable Development due to start on August 26.
He said: “More than ever, forest managers and forest policy developers need timely and accurate geospatial information on forest conditions, and an ability to monitor changes in forest conditions over time.”
Conference organiser Steve Smith, head of woodland surveys at the Forest Commission’s Forest Research agency, said different ages and species of trees give off different wavelengths in the colour spectrum in certain types of satellite imaging, providing an accurate picture of forest composition. Health can also be measured as healthy trees give off different wavelengths from diseased ones.
