Software & applications

Integrating our forest management knowledge and research into practical software applications for New Zealand’s forest managers is a unique Scion capability.

Forecaster is a highly sophisticated forest planning and simulation package developed by Scion and Future Forests Research. It is a well-established and popular tool for commercial forestry planning and decisions support.

Watch a how to get started with Forecaster video [YouTube, 8 min]

Decisions made during a forest’s rotation can have significant long-term consequences. Forecaster enables forest managers to manage their forests into the future by generating and testing scenarios across the whole spectrum of forestry activities, from forest planning through silviculture to harvesting and marketing.

For example, the choice of tree genetics and tree spacing at planting will impact on silvicultural operations and costs, harvest yields, wood quality outcomes, and the potential overall profitability of a forest crop. Forecaster provides the best possible way of testing and evaluating all these consequences in advance. Managers can then  implement best-case Forecaster scenarios in the field.

Forecaster incorporates both traditional models (used over the past 20+ years) and models from recent research to provide the most reliable results. It is regularly updated when new research becomes available, giving forest managers access to the most up-to-date results.

Carbon sequestration can also be modelled in a way that is consistent with New Zealand government models.

Forecaster can also be integrated with other forest management and planning applications or used as a stand-alone application, linking to MS Office applications.

Trialing and purchasing Forecaster

Forecaster licences are available for purchase from software developer, Integral ph 0800 002 555.

Media release: Forecaster software provider changes.