The Digital Forester

Lorne Carson, President of Carson Integrated, joins us on The Digital Forester podcast to share his journey from the East Coast to building a diverse group of companies rooted in Western Canada. Lorne walks us through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship in forestry, energy, and environmental services. We talk about the state of forestry in Western Canada, challenges with wildfire and regulation, and where real innovation is happening today — including AI, exoskeletons for field crews, and even augmented reality.

Tune in to hear how Lorne's boots-on-the-ground approach, willingness to pivot, and passion for people have shaped a resilient, tech-savvy forestry business built to last.

Topics Covered:

• Lorne’s path into forestry and move from the East Coast to Alberta
• Starting Carson Integrated and evolving beyond traditional consulting
• Building and winding down multiple businesses: safety, GIS, rentals
• State of forestry in Western Canada vs. British Columbia
• Entrepreneurial lessons in timing, failure, and resilience
• The impact of wildfires and adapting operations in real time
• Technology trends: data overload, machine learning, and AI
• Using exoskeletons in forestry fieldwork
• Vision for AR/VR and immersive digital forestry tools
• Challenges of innovation adoption in woodlands operations
• The future of Carson Integrated and Western Canadian forestry

In this episode of The Digital Forester, Howard Butler, President of Hobu Inc., shares his journey from agricultural roots to leading innovation in open-source geospatial software. We explore the evolution of tools like GDAL, PDAL, and Entwine, and how they're transforming forestry, especially in handling and visualizing massive point cloud datasets.

Howard explains how technologies like SilviMetric are modernizing forestry analytics and data management. He also shares thoughts on the future of lidar, cloud-optimized formats, AI, and what’s next for scalable, open geospatial systems. A must-listen for digital foresters and GIS professionals.

Topics Covered:

• Howard’s path from agriculture to GIS and open-source software
• Founding of Hobu Inc. and the philosophy behind open source
• Key projects: GDAL, PROJ, PDAL, Entwine, and Cloud Optimized Point Clouds
• How PDAL emerged with support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• Forestry applications: point cloud processing, classification, and raster generation
• SilviMetric: developed with the U.S. Forest Service for forestry metric analysis
• The role of cloud-native formats and scalable data access
• Adoption across governments, research, and industry
• AI, Gaussian splatting, and the future of 3D geospatial analysis
• Advice for getting started with geospatial tools

Dr. Nicholas Coops, Canada Research Chair in Remote Sensing at UBC, joins The Digital Forester podcast to talk about his journey through forestry, research, and innovation. We explore how remote sensing has evolved, its impact on forest management, and what’s next for the field. From global monitoring to cutting-edge projects, Nicholas shares insights from decades at the forefront of forest science.

Topics Covered:

- Dr. Coops’ career path and early influences in remote sensing

- The role of remote sensing in modern forestry

- Building the Integrated Remote Sensing Studio at UBC

- Shifts in satellite data, LiDAR, and forest inventory methods

- Translating academic research into operational tools

- Upcoming SilviLaser 2025 conference in Quebec City, Canada

- Challenges and opportunities in global forest monitoring

- Mentorship, leadership, and collaboration in science

- Dr. Coops’ perspective on what’s next for digital forestry

Andrea Feunekes, co-founder and former CEO of Remsoft, helps us kick off Season 5 of The Digital Forester. Andrea reflects on 30+ years of leading Remsoft, building a global business from the ground up with her husband Ugo, and shares lessons learned along the way. We dive into the evolution of forestry tech, the importance of change management, data readiness, and Remsoft’s exciting future with the recent acquisition of Lim Geomatics and platform growth. Tune in to hear why Andrea believes we’re on the edge of a connected, intelligent forestry future.

Topics Covered

• The founding story of Remsoft and early challenges
• Key technological shifts in forestry: GIS, optimization, AI
• Defining true optimization and digital forest twins
• The role of data quality and organizational readiness
• Change management and adapting processes for tech
• The creation of Remsoft Operations and its AI co-pilot
• The acquisition of Lim Geomatics and vision for a connected supply chain
• Choosing the right private equity partner with Banneker Partners
• Advice for entrepreneurs and working with family
• Andrea’s future view: automation, decision-making, and digital tools in forestry

Henry Ines is Co-Founder and CEO of Chainparency and joins us from Houston, Texas, USA. Chainparency is a supply chain software and data solutions company that develops turnkey and modular blockchain-based applications and digital tools that help its customers to ensure transparency, traceability and auditability in global supply chains. For the last Digital Forester podcast of 2024, come have a listen on how Chainparency’s flagship product GoTrace, the first-of-a-kind 100% turnkey SaaS blockchain-based platform that enables any enterprise or organization regardless of size to engage in end-to-end data collection and digital track & trace at scale, is being used in forestry today.

Frank Mastrobuono is VP Sales, North America at Global Surface Intelligence (GSI) and describes himself as an inspired business development, management, and science professional with a passion for applying technological advances to management of our natural resources. GSI is a forestry and land classification analytics company with offices in both the UK and US. The company has deep roots in environmental sciences, harnessing next generation artificial intelligence to transform satellite, LiDAR and ground survey data into commercially valuable analytics. Come learn about GSI’s new cutting-edge product ForINT.

Eli Jensen is the Owner of Ironwood Forestry and joins us from Flagstaff, Arizona. Ironwood Forestry is comprised of a dedicated team of professionals with a passion for forest management and innovation with the aim of revolutionizing the forestry industry. Come have a listen on what the concept of forest architecture means to Eli and his innovation projects dealing with the development of the Mark series of sprayers and his efforts to map thousands of acres using mobile lidar.

Kevin Shorthouse is the Director of Northwest Solutions Inc. and joins us from Thunder Bay, ON. Since 2014, this Northern Ontario family-owned business has been dedicated to providing forestry, mining, and environmental services, along with expert training and communications consulting. Come learn how the company’s client-focused, results-oriented team leverages technology to provide innovative solutions to the natural resources sector.

Rod Poirier is the Owner of JRP Solutions Ltd. and joins us from Courtenay, BC. As a Canadian owned and operated company that has been in business since 1992 and managed by forest professionals and software engineers, JRP Solutions currently serves customers across North America and Australia with its Plant Wizard, Forest OPS and SNAP! software solutions. Come have a listen about Rod’s career in forestry and what it took to develop these industry-leading software solutions.

Alex van Gelder is the CEO and Founder of Clear Timber Analytics and joins us from the The Netherlands. Clear Timber Analytics provides accurate tools to help foresters with their daily duties by translating modern technology, such as high-resolution drone imagery and advanced data analytics, into reports that allow foresters to precisely target resources. Come have a listen to learn more about Clear Timber Analytics’ bark beetle detection, growing stock analysis, forest disturbance analysis, and harvest data visualization solutions.