California Forest Observatory

Partners: SALO, Planet Labs, Vibrant Planet, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Funds Granted: $35,000

Using innovation and technology to increase the pace and scale of forest restoration is a major priority for the Tahoe Fund. Tahoe Fund, through the Smartest Forest Fund, provided a grant to develop the user interface for the CA Forest Observatory. This technology is an AI engine that leverages LIDAR and satellite data to provide a tree-level view of forest structure and fuel loads that scales statewide.

The CA Forest Observatory can be used to observe forest health, monitor wildfire risk, and create comprehensive evacuation plans to keep us safe. It will integrate data on wind and weather, soil and vegetation moisture & population and infrastructure in a way that will allow for new approaches to risk mapping, mitigation, and forest management in this new era of megafires.

Using the CA Forest Observatory will help rapidly accelerate the pace and scale of restoration while providing a critical understanding of many forest properties, weather conditions, and wildfire behavior that leave communities underprepared and vulnerable.

View the California Forest Observatory at forestobservatory.com