U.S. Endowment Awards $500,000 to CTrees and Spatial Informatics Group for forest technology solutions

Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service

The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) today announced $500,000 in awards to CTrees and Spatial Informatics Group (SIG) through its Technology Solutions to Improve Forest Health and Forest Management initiative. CTrees will receive $300,000 to develop Forest Asset Intelligence: The Wood Triangle, while Spatial Informatics Group will receive $200,000 to develop and deploy the Planscape Bioeconomy Module.

The initiative supports practical technology solutions that can improve forest health outcomes, strengthen wood markets, support forest management decision-making and increase operational effectiveness. Projects were also evaluated for their potential to be applied more broadly across regions, ownership types and markets.

“Healthy forests and strong rural communities depend on practical tools that help people make better decisions and respond to changing conditions on the ground. These projects demonstrate how technology can strengthen forest management capacity, improve connections between forests and markets and create lasting value for working forests and communities.”

Teal Edelen

Director of Forests for the Endowment

The selected projects are:

CTrees – $300,000

CTrees will develop Forest Asset Intelligence: The Wood Triangle, an integrated measurement and decision-support system that connects information across forests, mills and markets. The platform will bring together forest conditions and ownership information, mill capacity, procurement and logistics, market demand, and product specifications and certification.

Prototype AI-powered tools will help users answer complex questions that currently require manually assembling information from multiple sources. The system is intended to help users evaluate questions such as where forest treatments align with viable fiber markets and how changes in supply and demand may affect future forest management and manufacturing decisions.

Spatial Informatics Group (SIG) – $200,000

Spatial Informatics Group (SIG) will develop and deploy the Planscape Bioeconomy Module, an extension of the free, open-source Planscape decision-support platform. The module will help planners evaluate the economics of forest health treatments by estimating the volume and type of material generated, comparing harvest and transportation costs with potential market value, and weighing these factors alongside wildfire risk reduction and forest management benefits.

Both projects will now move into development and testing, with the goal of producing scalable tools that can be applied across different regions, ownership types and forest market conditions.

About the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities:
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities is a not-for-profit public charity collaborating with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic, transformative, and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests and forest-reliant communities. To learn more about the Endowment, please visit our website at www.usendowment.org.