SFC Announces Stratus, a web-based Hub for Forest Management

Southern Forestry Consultants and Lim Geomatics are pleased to present the official release of Stratus, a cloud-based asset management system and game changer for the forest industry. Southern Forestry Consultants is the dedicated provider of Lim Geomatics technologies in the southeastern United States.

Advanced technologies can deliver remarkable returns on investment for forestry companies. Stratus provides a centralized and easy-to-use hub for organizing and making the most of data investments. The web application offers a modern platform for implementing an integrated digital approach to the art and science of forest management.

“This is not some ungainly desktop application with rigid workflows or finicky data requirements,” says Dr. Kevin Lim, company founder and Chief Technology Officer. “Stratus is fast and powerful, but it’s also flexible and user-friendly. It represents the culmination of all our work within the forestry sector over the past 15 years.”

“Stratus answers the question of how forestry asset managers will function in a more digital future where demands for real time data are rising rapidly”, says Michael Dooner, founder and President of Southern Forestry Consultants.

This end-to-end forest management information system will improve the productivity and safety of each step of the operations cycle, from short and long-term strategic planning to planting, cruising, harvesting, and transportation. Stratus is stocked with a highly configurable set of tools and workflows for drafting operational plans, monitoring harvest activities, managing enhanced forest inventories, and tracking hauling and harvesting equipment performance.

The entire Lim Geomatics technology ecosystem—AFRIDS, Op Tracker, Op Tracker for Transport, and Prism—plugs seamlessly into Stratus, which was designed to accommodate the diverse workflows required by different forested ecosystems and management objectives.

The application was created alongside a team of veteran foresters from Southern Forestry Consultants who helped define and test its scope and functionality throughout the development process. The software is licensed in a set of independent but interconnected modules so it can be scaled up or down to meet the needs of small, medium, and large operations alike.

As a cloud-based enterprise system, Stratus provides a single, authoritative source for up-to-date information about the forest and ensures an unrivaled level of security and data quality. The application is run on the software-as-a-service model so you’re always working with the latest version and supported by a dedicated team of developers and designers.

“Stratus was the missing link for delivering comprehensive forest connectivity,” says Lim. “We’re excited to take this next step with our clients by offering the complete set of digital tools for getting full insight into every stage of forest management and operations.”

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Reach out to us to learn more: sales@soforest.com

Learn more about Stratus here.

SFC Announces Planet Imagery Partnership

Southern Forestry Consultants is excited to announce that we are now a Planet Labs imagery reseller. Planet is a leading global provider of daily satellite imagery at multiple resolutions and temporal scales. SFC’s geospatial solutions division will provide Planet imagery to clients across the Southeastern U.S.

Planet’s imagery products are a game changer for efficient real time monitoring of land assets. Being a provider of Planet imagery is a strategic fit for SFC’s cloud-centric strategy for digitally enabled natural resource management via real time imagery within SFC’s managed web GIS solutions which allows all access to land data anywhere work is being done, whether the office, the truck or the woods. “We at Planet could not be more excited to have Southern Forestry Consultants signed on as a partner.” said John Atkinson, Global VP of Partnerships at Planet. “Their towering competence in forestry management, combined with Planet’s unique service, will deliver the best possible results to our joint customers.”

It can be a challenge for forestry and natural resources professionals to visit each and every ongoing management activity across geographically distributed land assets. Putting eyes on all operations is increasingly a challenge as organizations run lean due to tight labor markets. SFC’s web GIS customers can add Planet imagery directly to ArcGIS (Online or ArcGIS Pro) for real time visibility across all their lands and value added silvicultural activities. Operational benefits include reduced time on the road checking jobs and having to walk sites to see the precise extent of work completion. Land managers can quickly quantify a harvest’s extent, or acres for payment, using last week’s imagery right in ArcGIS Pro instead of walking a job’s edge with GPS. Since Planet’s imagery streams directly to ArcGIS, one can reduce time spent on labor intensive and slow imagery transactions involving shapefiles, email and large file management.

Reach out to us to learn more: sales@soforest.com
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Learn more about Planet at their website : https://www.planet.com

Check out the fresh round of enhancements and updates for Prism!

Part of Redefining Forest Technology is continuous improvement based on your feedback.  With Prism, we’re planning for the next 20 years of forest technology by ensuring the Prism solution is up to date, and always getting better.

Hopefully as a user you’re already experiencing some of the exciting updates to Prism such as:

  • Faster grid creation across multiple stand polygons.
  • Chains as a preferred unit of measurement for plot grids.
  • Your last grid settings are saved for next time.
  • Point sampling (variable radius) plot volumes now computed in the stand stock report.
  • Minor user interface changes and fixes.

See some of these updates in action on the Prism page here.

Prism is an integrated forest technology we offer to forestry and natural resource professionals all over the Southeast.  Prism reduces the hidden costs of cruising and inventory management through Automated, Map-Centric Cruising.

Prism updates are seamless – they automatically show up in the web app and mobile apps if you have automatic updates on.

SFC to Exhibit in North Carolina

SFC is proud to be exhibiting our forest technology offerings at the North Carolina Forestry Association’s (NCFA) Annual Meeting in Wilmington, North Carolina on October 2-4, 2019.    Our presence at this event is part our ongoing commitment to our technology customers in wood products and forestry, and providing our industry an edge through a more digital workforce.    We look forward to seeing you all in Wilmington in October!

NCFA Website Event Page. 

Learn why Redefining Forest Technology is critical to our industry. 

Carroll Discusses Restoration at Florida Panhandle Forests and Drinking Water Workshop

 

Austin Carroll (WEA President and SFC Partner) presented at the recent Florida Panhandle and Forests and Drinking Water Workshop at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve Nature Center in Eastpoint, Florida.  Mr. Carroll spoke on the creation of the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA) Central Water Reclamation Facility (CWRF) Forest Restoration Area. ECUA’s goal for the CWRF Forest Restoration area is to develop a sustainable, native forest ecosystem capable of maximizing groundwater recharge capabilities.  ECUA has worked with SFC and WEA since 2016 to convert the former International Paper lands surrounding the CWRF, from cutover and unmanaged plantations towards Desired Future Conditions (DFCs) of sandhill pine, pine flatwoods, and mixed forested wetland communities. Restoration and enhancement activities have included exotic and invasive species control, mechanical and herbicide treatments, harvesting operations, longleaf pine and wiregrass planting, and the return of prescribed fire to these ecosystems.  These practices, the ongoing management, and the long-term management plan developed by SFC and WEA are guided by current research results regarding managing forests for increased regional water availability (including the results of fellow speaker Dr. Matt Cohen, University of Florida).  Also in attendance to answer questions regarding the project was Don Palmer, PE, Deputy Executive Director of Engineering and Environmental Services at ECUA.  Mr. Carroll is Registered Forester and Certified Wildlife Biologist who serves as the SFC and WEA program manager for this restoration effort.

 

The Florida Panhandle Forest and Drinking Water Workshop is presented by the Florida Forest Service and the Workshop Planning Team to explore the connection between forests and safe, high quality drinking water, particularly for the northern part of the state, and foster collaboration and relationships among the forestry, drinking water and conservation sectors.  It is a priority for and coordinated by the Southeastern Partnership for Forests and Water, whose purpose is to maintain healthy watersheds that provide safe, reliable drinking water, healthy forests, and strong local and regional economies.