Media Contact
Rick Sacks · 973.467.8728 · rick@smartpr.net
ImageTree™ Adds Warnell to Forest Management Research Partners
Morgantown, W.V. Sept. 18, 2007 — ImageTree™, the Precision Forestry Company™, is pleased to announce the addition of the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry as a forest management research partner.
The Warnell School of Forestry is the third major U.S. University to join ImageTree in a research and development effort focused on remote sensing technology and its use in inventory and forest management. Through imaging tools and expertise, ImageTree provides accurate and consistent assessments of forest assets, which are used by forest investors and managers to make better, more informed decisions about forest investment management and timberland management practices.
The Warnell research, led by Dr. Bruce Borders, assesses the reliability of existing timber inventory estimating techniques and the use of remote sensing to develop improved inventory methodologies.
“Many timberland management organizations are aware that the precision estimates used to assess timber inventory are often misleading and confusing,” Borders said. “It is common for inventory estimates obtained several years apart in the same stand to show illogical changes. The cause of such problems is related to the nature of traditional sampling. ”.
Borders said the Warnell project will study this problem using stem-mapped pine stand data, focusing on the reliability of inventory precision estimates and the magnitude of various error sources. In addition, researchers will work with ImageTree to use remote sensing to develop improved methods for obtaining reliable and accurate timber inventory estimates for optimum forest management.
“The methodology we develop with ImageTree will help improve current standing inventory estimates,” Borders said, “and will improve timberland management by providing more sound and reliable information.”
In addition to the Warnell research project, ImageTree works with Yale University’s Global Institute for Sustainable Forestry, where collaborative projects focus on research correlations of high-resolution imagery with understory attributes and analysis of hyperspatial imagery. During the last year, West Virginia University research faculty and ImageTree also teamed to assess hyperspectral remote sensing and multispectral imagery for species identification.
About ImageTree
ImageTree is the Precision Forestry Company, providing accurate and
consistent assessment of forest assets to improve forest management
financial performance. ImageTree, through more precise and timely evaluations
of forestland, facilitates superior silvicultural and harvest decision
making while providing unmatched data for confident investor reporting.
For more information, visit www.imagetreecorp.com.
About Warnell School of Forestry
Founded in 1906, the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
is the oldest forest resources school in the South. The school has
53 faculty members and enrolls about 380 undergraduates and 160 graduate
students. The school offers teaching and research programs in the areas
of fisheries and aquaculture; forest biotechnology; forest business
and management; water and soil resources; wildlife ecology and management;
natural resources, recreation and tourism; and natural resource management
and human dimensions. Visit for more information, http://www.warnell.uga.edu/
About Yale University Global Institute for Sustainable Forestry
Since its founding in 1900, the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies has been in the forefront of developing a science-based approach to forest management, and in training leaders world-wide. The Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry established in 2000 continues this tradition. The Institute aims to integrate, strengthen and direct the school's forestry research, education and outreach to address the challenges of sustaining forests in the 21st century and a globalized world. For more information, visit http://research.yale.edu/gisf/.
About West Virginia University Divison of Forestry and Natural Resources
West Virginia University’s Division of Forestry and Natural Resources offers undergraduate and graduate education in four primary areas: Forest Resources Management; Recreation, Parks and Tourism Resources; Wildlife and Fisheries Resources; and Wood Science and Technology. The Division is constantly updating curricula and developing new programs in areas such as ecotourism, arboriculture and conservation ecology. Faculty researchers in the Division have been recognized as some of the most productive in the nation by the Journal of Forestry, and the Division is home to one of a handful of USDA-sponsored Centers for Wood Utilization Research, devoted to enhancing the competitiveness of the U.S. wood products industry in
domestic and global markets. For more information, visit http://www.forestry.caf.wvu.edu/.