Editor's note
Hello and welcome to this weeks brief.
The highlight this week is the news of Mellanskog’s collaboration with Terra Labs. The partnership made me so curious that I reached out to Terra Labs directly. The conversation that followed was fascinating, and the answers I got were so thought-provoking that they deserve a post of their own.
It also left me with the feeling that precision forestry might be closer than I thought. Look forward to Thursday’s deep dive, where I’ll share some truly unique insights from that exchange.
Axel
Mellanskog and Terra Labs Launch AI-Powered Forest Monitoring
Mellanskog partners with Stockholm-based Terra Labs to bring real-time forest monitoring to 77,000 forest owners. Powered by satellite data and AI, the service delivers continuous forest inventories and a digital twin platform, enabling smarter, more efficient forest management across central Sweden.
Pneumatic seedling planting with ultralight drones
SkyPlanter presents the first ultralight drone system for direct aerial reforestation with live seedlings - using a pneumatic, double-telescoping planting tool and custom quadrotor. The system plants and compacts seedlings in rugged terrain, enabling scalable, cost-effective tree planting with GPS-logged precision. Field trials show efficient planting and outline potential for autonomous, traceable forest regeneration even where ground machines can’t access.
Nordic Forestry Automation secures Hardware Production in Lund
Nordic Forestry Automation (NFA) develops real-time AI operator support for forestry machines, enabling automated tree analysis and thinning. Their new partnership with AB Cervitrol in Lund provides local, high-volume hardware production and quality assurance.
Arboreal and Skogshubben automate field data for mapping
Arboreal and Skogshubben have integrated digital tools so forest owners can easily measure and record data via smartphone, instantly visualizing results in mapping and planning platforms for more rapid, accurate, and data-driven forest management.
Apple uses data-driven methods for redwood forest restoration
Apple partners with The Conservation Fund to restore and monitor 14,000 acres of California redwood forest, leveraging satellite imaging and analytics to track carbon capture, ecosystem health, and progress toward long-term climate and conservation goals.