Integration of Airborne Laser Scanning data into forest ecosystem management in Canada: Current status and future directions

Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) has been the subject of decades of applied research and development in forest management. ALS data are spatially explicit, capable of accurately characterizing vegetation structure and underlying terrain, and can be used to produce value-added products for terrestrial carbon assessments, hydrology, and biodiversity among others. Scientific support for ALS is robust, however its adoption within environmental decision-making frameworks remains inconsistent. Cost continues to be a principal barrier limiting adoption, especially in remote, forested regions, however added challenges such as the need for technical expertise, unfamiliarity of data capabilities and limitations, data management requirements, and processing logistics also contribute. This review examines the current status of the integration of ALS data into forest ecosystem management in a Canadian context. We advocate for continued inter-agency acquisitions leading to integration of ALS into existing natural resource management decision pathways. We gauge the level of uptake thus far, discuss the barriers to operational implementation at provincial scales, and highlight how we believe ALS can support multiple objectives of forest and environmental management in Canada. We speak to potential benefits for supporting inter-agency terrain generation, ecosystem mapping, biodiversity assessments, silvicultural planning, carbon and forest health evaluations, and riparian characterizations. We conclude by providing key considerations for developing capacity using ALS and discuss the technologies future in the context of Canadian forest and environmental management objectives.