Forestry Expert Says Technology Will Globally Drive Dramatic Change in Timberland Management but U.S. Is Behind in Adoption

MORGANTOWN, W.Va., Jan. 31, 2008 — Technology is driving dramatic change in the continuing evolution of the forestry industry, said North Carolina State forestry professor Dr. Lee Allen, speaking last week at an industry seminar organized and hosted by ImageTree Corporation, “but the United States is somewhat behind.”

In a presentation that kicked off the company’s “Idea Leadership Series,” featuring experts on a variety of topics critical to forestry, Dr. Allen added, “South American countries, such as Chile, are ahead in silviculture practice,” meaning tree and stand care from planting to maturity.

Dr. Allen, who is C.A. Schenck Professor of Forestry at North Carolina State University and co-director of the Forest Nutrition Cooperative, predicted that although production timberland acreage may decline as it is put to other uses in the southeast United States, more effective silviculture can produce “bumper crops” of timber.

“One key to productivity,” said Dr. Allen, “will be the use of new remote-sensing technology that can help foresters monitor tree-stand growth and health. This includes the use of infrared photography, computer software, and imaging that give an accurate, detailed portrait of what’s occurring in the tree stand at any given time during the growth process.”

According to Dr. Allen, other trends influencing forestry practices include:

Greater globalization within the industry, with many nations practicing more and more sophisticated silviculture;
Rising fertilizer prices caused by increased demand in India and China, which will cause foresters to make more precision decisions on where and when to fertilize; and
Increased use of cloned material in plantings.

“Lee’s insights were eye-openers,” said George Fulton, ImageTree executive vice president. “Anyone interested in the future of forestry learned something today about what it will to take to prosper over the next decade.”

Dr. Allen has supervised 18 doctoral and 35 master’s students – including 26 international students – who now hold influential positions around the world. He has delivered workshops to more than 3,500 foresters and forest landowners. His service to the Southern forestry industry has increased its competitiveness, annually resulting in an estimated 15 million more tons of wood and $400 million in additional value.

Dr. Allen’s presentation was broadcast live over the Internet to ImageTree customers, forestry students and others in the industry. Certified foresters linked into the session were awarded continuing education credits for their attendance.

A link is available to view Dr. Allen’s presentation in its entirety on ImageTree’s corporate Web site. Certified foresters are eligible for 2.0 hours of continuing education credits. [A DVD library of Idea Leadership Series presentations will be made available in the future for archival and educational purposes.]

Part of the company’s commitment to leadership within the forestry community, the ImageTree Idea Leadership Series is designed to promote innovative ideas for the preservation and management of forested environments.

The series continues on May 13, 2008, when Dr. Randolph Wynne, Virginia Tech associate professor of forestry, will address monitoring forest growth and health through remote sensing.

About ImageTree Corporation
ImageTree is “the precision forestry company” that provides accurate and consistent assessment of forest assets, significantly improving both timberland management practices and investor returns. Its patented process, which combines remote sensing, automated software, and advanced mathematics and analysis, enables superior site-specific economic, environmental and sustainable-forest decision making. ImageTree’s ForestSense inventory platform provides precise, timely and cost-effective inventory and its process can reduce a typical five-year inventory-cycle time up to 80 percent. The company has academic relationships with the Forest Nutrition Cooperative based at North Carolina State University, Virginia Tech, and the Universidad de Concepción (Chile); University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources; Yale University’s Global Institute for Sustainable Forestry; and the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences at West Virginia University. For more information about ImageTree, go to www.imagetreecorp.com.

Note: ImageTree, ForestSense and The Precision Forestry Company are trademarks of ImageTree Corporation. The names of other actual companies, organizations and/or products/services mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.