Tracking timber harvesting is important for economic, ecological and hydrological reasons. Reporting varies greatly across jurisdictions, as does our subsequent understanding of impacts. On industrial timber land, harvesting usually occurs according to a tightly planned rotation, but an unknown fraction results from unexpected disturbances, such as salvage logging after severe weather or beetle mortality.  Forest mapping capabilities that include both high spatial resolution and high frequency can provide insight into these sequential disturbances, and that may ultimately lead to better forest management.  

The HiForm Timber Harvest BMP Tool is an open web-based application that was developed in coordination with the Geospatial Technology and Applications Center (GTAC) and the Southern Group of State Foresters.