Data is mapping out a future for Scotland’s forests
U Using machine learning to analyse old maps could help foresters choose where to plant trees and where natural regeneration could take place, writes Peter Ranscombe
One of life’s greatest pleasures is unrolling an old map and getting lost in spotting changes in the landscape, and remembering settlements that have come and gone over the years. Now, machine learning is helping cartographers locate the sites of Scotland’s lost woodlands, which could help in the fight against the climate catastrophe and its effects.
Project developer Zulu Ecosystems teamed up with the National Library of Scotland (NLS) to extract information about woods and forests from the first edition of Ordnance Survey’s maps of Scotland, published between 1843 and 1882. Ordnance Survey’s familiar symbols for broadleaf, conifer and mixed plantations were also recorded from the maps, which were drawn on a scale of six inches to one mile.
The data was then analysed using machine learning and checked by humans, allowing it to be combined with satellite images to identify the sites of old forests. The resulting digital “layer” of old woodlands is now available to access for free on NLS’S website.
Zulu Ecosystems describes itself as a “nature technology” company, which works with landowners – including businesses, local authorities, and private estates – to restore ecosystems. Its projects in Scotland include a tree planting strategy for Aberdeen City Council, a woodland and peatland restoration scheme for an unnamed private estate within the Cairngorms
National Park, and work with the Trees for Life charity.
“I don’t think it would have been viable economically to have digitised those maps without artificial intelligence (AI),” says Ed Asseily, Zulu’s chief executive. “Machinelearning tools are very powerful, and they help us to do work that otherwise probably wouldn’t get done.
“We’ve had a really positive response from the forestry industry, and it’s been a good way to bring attention to these ancient woodlands, which in many cases have disappeared or are in the process of disappearing.
“What’s particularly exciting about this layer – and the reason why we were so keen to get involved and to do this work – is that it provides us some clues as to where the woods might grow back without being replanted.
“Our ‘Lost Woods’ programme is looking for places where we could actually allow the trees to grow back naturally without even planting, just by removing things like grazing pressure. That’s the sweet spot here – to let the trees grow back on their own.”
Zulu aims to restore one million hectares of degraded land by 2030. As well as its 17 active projects in the UK, it also works in the United States, where it has developed a biodiversity corridor between the Blue Ridge Mountains and Southwest Mountains in Virginia, and restored native woodland in the Midwest along one of the “National Wild and Scenic Rivers” designated by the US Congress.
Asseily adds: “We are fortunate to have some very powerful technology, and we’re fortunate to have a multidisciplinary team. We have scientists and ecologists, land managers and project managers, and integrating all these different disciplines helps us to solve complex problems.
“We work with local partners wherever we go because every landscape sits in its local context. That’s true ecologically, but it’s also true from a community perspective.”
As well as identifying locations for nature restoration projects, data is also essential for the companies and public sector bodies that manage Scotland’s woodlands.
Forestry & Land Scotland (FLS) – which was created in 2019 alongside Forestry Scotland to take over the work previously done by Forestry Commission Scotland and Forest Enterprise Scotland, along with other powers delegated to the Scottish Parliament – has estimated that using geographic information systems (GIS) cuts the time foresters used to spend drawing maps in half, and makes updating maps up to 90 per cent faster.
Estimating the income that could come through chopping down a commercial plantation’s trees for timber now takes minutes rather than months. Much of the technology used by FLS is tested at its Newton nursery near Elgin in Moray.
Data handled by GIS systems is not only used for mapping but is also now shared with frontline equipment, including the fleet of massive mechanical
harvesters that are used to chop down trees. Maps and other spatial information can be displayed on screens in the harvester’s cab, allowing the driver or operator to make sure they fell the correct trees.
As well as using data, the harvesters out in the forests are also collecting a vast amount of information, ranging from how many trees are being felled per hour and the volume of timber produced per hour, to how much fuel is being used per hour and to the average tree size on the site for each species. The data collected can then be used by foresters to plan the workload for harvesters, as well as for maintenance.
FLS is also collecting data from the air, using light detection and ranging systems, or “lidar”, which fire lasers and then measure the time the beam takes to bounce back to a sensor. The information is used to create three-dimensional maps of forests, which can help to plan harvesting and planting.
“Modern sustainable forestry is a hugely complex business that must take into account a huge array of factors – there is a mountain of regulation, policy and guidance that foresters follow,” says Graeme Prest, director of land management and regions at FLS.
“But, over and above this, the actual practical business of forestry and land management needs an unbelievable amount of data – on anything from hydrology, geology, and soil types to deer numbers, utilities, and public access.
“We are increasingly adopting ever more ingenious technological solutions that allow us to interrogate and use phenomenal amounts of data that help us to do our work ever more effectively and efficiently. Data is fundamental to what we do and is helping us to meet the new range of challenges presented by a changing climate.”
The organisation has also been carrying out trials using drones to scatter tree seeds near the A83 trunk road at the Rest and Be Thankful pass. Although using drones to plant trees is relatively common in North America and parts of Europe, the project is one of the first tests in the UK.
Fellow Scottish Government agency Transport Scotland hopes that planting more trees on the high slopes above the pass will help to stabilise the ground and reduce the amount of rocks washed by rain onto the road below.
More widely, planting trees to absorb excessive rainfall will be a key factor in Scotland’s fight against the effects of the climate catastrophe.
Data is helping us to meet the new range of challenges presented by a changing climate Graeme Prest, Forestry & Land Scotland