CTrees lands $300K grant to build AI tools linking forests to markets
What's the deal? CTreesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and CommunitiesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to build Forest Asset Intelligence: The Wood Triangle, a decision-support system connecting forests, mills, and markets. The award was announced on September 21 as part of a broader $500,000 round; Spatial Informatics GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → received the other $200,000.
What's the endgame? CTrees plans to develop AI-powered tools that pull together data on forest conditions, ownership, mill capacity, logistics, market demand, and product certification. The aim is to automate questions that now require assembling information by hand, such as where forest treatments align with viable fiber markets.
Why now? The funding comes through the Endowment's Technology Solutions to Improve Forest Health and Forest Management initiative, which the Greenville, South Carolina nonprofit opened for proposals earlier this year. Projects were judged in part on whether they could work broadly across regions, ownership types, and markets.
What else? Spatial Informatics Group will use its $200,000 to build the Planscape Bioeconomy Module, an add-on to the free, open-source Planscape platform. It will estimate the volume and type of material a forest treatment produces and weigh harvest and transport costs against market value and wildfire risk reduction.
"Healthy forests and strong rural communities depend on practical tools that help people make better decisions and respond to changing conditions on the ground," said Teal Edelen, director of forests for the Endowment. Both projects now move into development and testing.
The signal: At $300,000, this is a modest grant rather than a venture check, but it points to growing interest in applying AI and data tools to forest management and the wood supply chain. The bet is that better information can link working forests to markets while cutting wildfire risk.
Read more: igrownews.com
Image credit: U.S. Army
