Forestry

Managing forests in today's ever-changing world is becoming an increasingly complex and demanding challenge. Plans, resource considerations, and business decisions are made in an atmosphere of often-conflicting values and with considerable uncertainty. ESRI Canada offers a well-integrated, complete line of software including desktop solutions and sophisticated server tools that allow you to manage large databases of geographic information in a continuous, seamless way. This range of solutions is well suited to contemporary forest management planning requirements. Timber/Stand Management GIS provides a means to track all the elements of forest prescriptions and schedules for a multitude of stand activities. Transportation and Access Management GIS provides tools for dynamically assigning time and haul cost attributes to the existing inventory database for road access alternatives. Forest Planning Use predictive modeling and analytics to map a forest's future relative to alternative management strategies. Forest Protection GIS gives you the ability to design options for prevention, intervention, and recovery. Fire Management and Suppression Understanding the direction, location, and speed of wildfires is critical for effective suppression strategies.

Ecology and Habitat Management
There is an increasing need to understand the impacts of forests management relative to a larger landscape. GIS provides the modeling and monitoring capacity to view the affect on multiple spatial and temporal scales. You can integrate and fuse data from micro to macro scales to address land management and environmental impacts.

GIS technology provides an ideal environment for describing, analyzing, and modeling ecosystem processes and functions. Interactions and relationships among diverse ecosystem components can be explored and visualized using the powerful analytical and visualization tools that GIS software provides.

GIS also plays an important role in understanding

• Disturbance Ecology
• Conservation Biology
• Carbon Sequestration
• Vegetative Associations
• Cumulative Affects

Globally there is a continued and increasing concern on species viability as a result of the changes in landscapes. GIS serves as a platform that displays the relational changes that helps to understand impacts and the need for intervention. From control actions to critical need for protection-the ability to link information to habitat needs or suitability is key to forest managers.

• Fragmentation
• Invasive Species
• Endemic Species
• Successional Stages
• Suitability

Fire Ecology
There is an increasing appreciation for the natural role of fire in forested ecosystems. The ability to apply fire is a growing demand and the ability to implement complex prescriptions challenge forest managers.

GIS provides the ability to assess that complexity, serve as a scheduling tool, and provide an accounting of changes in vegetative condition. In combination with critical information, it helps managers know how to ignite and still meet regulatory compliance.

Watershed Management
GIS gives you the capability to look at impacts to water quality and to access the downstream affect of proposed activities. You can track and analyze sedimentation, flooding, vegetative changes, and the affects on habitats, streams, rivers, and wetlands.

Urban Forestry
Urban expansions have resulted in significant reductions in tree cover in cities. GIS provides the ability to assess and monitor environmental changes to assist planners and managers to better understand the impact of land use. Planners can use GIS to manage their urban forestry efforts including

• Community Planning
• Open Space
• Wildland Urban Interface