Lungs of our Land: Forestry Tech

"Americana Tech" Series

As part of my “Americana Tech” series, I am shining a light on mind-blowing innovations in a space taking up a third of planet earth: forests.

Context: Forests Power People

Forests power people.

"Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people." So said President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his 1935 “thank you” to the Society of American Foresters.

If a tree falls in the forest, does anyone hear it? These days, at least a few startups. To problems like bad forest management, deforestation, degradation, wildfires, low logging profitability and limited financing, startups are applying new tech solutions.

Using cutting-edge tech— A.I., drones, UAVs, robotics, augmented reality, lighting detection and ranging (LiDAR), marketplace tech, even DNA sequencing— “Forestry Tech” startups are breathing new life into our lungs.

Challenges: 21st Century Forestry

A third of planet earth (~31%) is forest. Yet any forest— from America’s Tongass to Europe’s Bavarian Wald— has problems. Here are universal ones:

• Sub-optimal management: keeping forests healthy and resilient by preventing diseases, ensuring seed survival, proper uses of maintenance chemicals/machines, and so on

• Deforestation and degradation: Man and mother-nature made caused losses of trees (e.g. logging, wildfires) can cause negative ecological consequences requiring rehabilitation

• Financing and low profitability: Forestry is a mostly low-margin trade and there are economic/operational challenges from supply chain to commercialization

Solutions Space: Where Innovation is happening

I segment “Forestry Tech” into four categories: (1) Forest Management, or tools helping private and public forest owners deal with and control their assets; (2) Reforestation Tech, or tech for replanting trees; (3) Wildfire Detection, or tools to mitigate/prevent forest fires; and (4) Forest Commercialization tools to optimize commercialization of lumber, as well as climate products (e.g. carbon-offsets).

• Forest Management:

  • Use case: Managing forest operations. General forest health, carbon offsetting, carbon-stock monitoring, thinning, seed survival, seeding refills, chemical/mechanical minimization, disease monitoring, harvesting optimization

  • Tech used: artificial intelligence (e.g. computer vision), robotics, drones, satellites, sensors / real-time precision intelligence (etc.)

  • Examples: Gaia AI, Kodama AI, Upstream Tech, Overstory, Dendra, Treemetrics, Skylabs, Swift Geospatial, Vibrant Planet, ArboAir

• Reforestation Tech:

  • Use case: rehabilitating forests (e.g. after a wildfire or commercial cutting), including re-planting trees

  • Tech used: drones, biotech/DNA sequencing, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, LiDAR, satellites, pelletized seeds, aerial mapping software, automation, ecological science

  • Examples: DroneSeed, Skyseed, Flash Forest, AirSeed Technologies, Earthshot Labs, Funga, Treeapp

• Wildfire Detection:

  • Use case: preventing and mitigating forest fires (i.e. the Smokey The Bear use case) for utilities, landowners, insurers, and other asset managers

  • Tech used: IoT Sensors, aerial surveying/drones, camera sensors, robotics

  • Examples: Gridware, Pano, Insight Robotics, Dryad

• Commercialization Tech:

  • Use case: marketplaces and digital workflows for (a) improving how lumber is supplied, inventoried, financed, commercialized and traded, and (b) setting up platforms for private and public purchase of carbon offsets

  • Tech used: software, marketplace tech

  • Examples: Pachama, Magic Forest, TimberEye, Timbeter

Market Map: Illustrative Startups

Here is a visualization of some of the players in the space:

Conclusion: Forestry Tech is Essential Americana Tech

Add to the axe A.I., A/R and more tech as mankind’s forest management tools.

“Forestry Tech” is essential “Americana Tech”—my word for essential innovation for country building in the United States. It’s time to shine a light on entrepreneurial efforts, within and beyond the United States.

Thanks for reading— please reach out with any thoughts. I’d love to hear from you!

Pete

PS: refresher on Americana Tech below!

PPS: dislaimer that I am an investor in Forestry Tech startup Kodama AI.

Americana Tech: A Refresher

There are at least five things that a country (such as America) must do well. These also correspond to five categories that constitute pillars of what I am calling Americana Tech: 1) Protect, 2) Power, 3) Build, 4) Move, and 5) Inspire. For my peer venture capitalists, these encapsulate familiar areas of current investment:

1. Protect - Tech that helps secure life and property.

• How we live healthy lives - Health Tech

• How we protect digital property - Cybersecurity

• How we protect physical property/persons - Defense Tech

2. Power - Tech for critical inputs powering the economy

• How we source energy - Energy Tech

• How we manage resources - Forestry Tech, Agriculture Tech

• How we deliver inputs - Supply Chain Tech

3. Build - Tech for essential hard and soft infrastructure

• How we build physical assets - Construction/Infrastructure Tech

• How we develop our people - EdTech, Future of Work

4. Move - Tech to move people and things across and beyond Earth

• How we move things on Earth - Land, Sea, Air Tech

• How move things beyond Earth - Space Tech

5. Inspire - Tech that helps win hearts and minds

• How we deepen our cultural heritage - Creator Economy

• How we strengthen our social communication - Consumer Social