2022 User Conference Event Highlights for the Forestry Community
This year, San Diego was once again taken over by GIS users from around the world as we congregated at the 2022 Esri User Conference. Enthusiasm was shining brightly as we all enjoyed reconnecting. This was apparent in the restaurants of the Gaslamp District, across train cars and congregating at the convention center lobbies. We delighted in witnessing great camaraderie as veteran UC attendees provided insight on how to navigate the conference to the 8,000 first time conference attendees looking for advice on forestry sessions, socials, and booths to visit.
We would like to share a quick summary of the forestry specific events and for those who were not able to attend we invite you to watch the plenary online.
Special Achievement in GIS Award
Congratulations to Starker Forest, the winner of the Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award in Forestry.
Rick Allen (Reforestation Forester) and Greg Wyatt (IT Manager) had a vision for a workflow to allow foresters to collect information in a disconnected field environment into a spray app that held their stand boundaries, roads, and forest stand data. Their forestry team wanted internal staff and contractors working on chemical treatment activities to have access to this app in the field and the office.
Through the Esri Advantage Program, Starker worked with Esri Professional Services and Training to gain the skills to build apps and manage their data for reporting and silviculture management. Starker’s goal, to create a platform for the field collection of tabular data associated with herbicide application activity on forest ownership was able to replace older paper-based workflows but also improved staff and worker safety with more efficient communication of activities as they happen.
Map Gallery Awards
- Coffee Landscapes Reforestation in Huila Columbia authored by Kellee Koenig from Conservation International – First Place in ArcGIS Analytic Methods and Results
- San Juan National Forest Visitor Map [2022] authored by Jesse Nett, Mark Roper, and the San Juan National Forest from the USDA Forest Service – Second Place in Reference Map
- Deep Learning for Biodiversity Imagery Analysis authored by Emilia Stepinski, Mike Rawitch, Brittni Engels, and Margaret Lindman from Ramboll – Fourth Place in ArcGIS Analytic Methods and Results
- California Wildfires: 1901-2020 authored by Barbara Kent from the State of California – Second Place in Thematic Map
User Presentations
Esri would like to thank all the presentations that freely shared their work and enthusiasm with the GIS community.
- Humboldt Medocino was represented by Joshua Petitmermet and Miki Beavis in Unlocked the Potential of ArcGIS Pro for Forestry Users focusing how their Pro-based systems improved the accuracy of harvest reporting while reducing labor requirements compared to paper-driven processes.
- Forsite Consultants - Sarah Eshpeter and Stephen Smyrl focused on Cultural Western Red Cedar Recruitment, examining the current distribution of redcedar across the land base and identify which sites are best suited for redcedar management.
- USDA Forest Service gave us an update on The USFS BIGMAP Project, highlighting how the project has leveraged satellite imagery and advances in high-performance computing to link multiple broad-scale datasets to create a new way of using FIA data. Chris Oswalt, James Garner and Ty Wilson presenting.
- Forestry Stewardship Council showcased the use of remote sensing and GIS analysis techniques including time-series satellite imagery to better understand the dynamics of the forest management practices of the certified companies and monitor performance with reliable data at the forest and landscape level. Measuring Impact of Forest Certification Using GIS and Remote Sensing - Andres Felipe Ramirez Mejia and Scot McQueen.
- Michael Breetzke from Swift Geospatial demonstrated how a near real-time processing chain assist organizations around the world in providing actional insights and decision support focusing on the importance of displaying results in the form that non-GIS experts can understand while still providing in-depth analytics. You Can’t Monitor What You Can’t See: Tackling Forestry Monitoring from Space
- Visualizing Data from RPAS and Smartphones to Support Park Management Decisions was shared by Angela Route from the University of British Columbia. Presenting how using interactive data visualizations built using Esri tools, ease the exploration of combining two data resources: the occupation counts of urban parks collected from mobile applications and aerial imager collected using Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPAS) including RGB and multispectral data.
- Street Tree Mapping to Mitigate Emerald Ash Borer Risk presented by Mitchell Berg of the University of Minnesota Crookston.
Forestry Special Interest Group Meeting
Members of the Forestry community across the federal, state and commercial spheres, including international, discussed the application of spatial technologies and their value in natural climate solutions. The audience learned what these organization were doing to support natural climate solutions, what natural climate solutions meant to each presenter and represented organization, and what we as a forestry GIS community can do to support natural climate solutions.
Panelists included
Scot McQueen, Forest Stewardship Council
Chris Oswalt, USDA Forest Service
Jose Luis Garcinuno, Green Diamond Resource Company, CA Division
Forestry Social
Overlooking the beautiful San Diego bay with the cool breeze across the Aqua Terrace of the Hilton Bayfront, the Forestry community enjoyed drinks and fresh fish tacos along with a cheese plate and cereal-themed mini whoopie pies for dessert. Members spoke on the next steps of reinvigorating the Forestry user group, name still pending (FUG has been vetoed). Many focused on reconnecting with old colleagues or new acquaintances and enjoying each other’s company in a less structured environment. Our sponsors who made the wonderful experience a possibility spoke a few words and a merry time was had by all.
Thank you once again to our sponsors
For anyone interested in joining the Forestry Steering Community please contact Adam Pittman at apittman@esri.com.
Stay connected with the Esri Forestry Community beyond the UC
Facebook: Esri Forestry Group
Twitter: @EsriForestry
LinkedIn: Esri Forestry Group
Esri’s Forestry Community