{"id":75870,"date":"2025-10-06T13:57:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T20:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=75870"},"modified":"2025-10-06T13:57:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T20:57:04","slug":"ai-in-forestry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/ai-in-forestry\/","title":{"rendered":"How could AI help (and hurt) forestry?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The whole world is buzzing about the potential and pitfalls of artificial intelligence\u2014including those who work in forestry.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

AI could revolutionize forestry, making it possible to save more lives and ecosystems through faster and more accurate data analysis. But if forestry professionals aren\u2019t careful, AI could also botch critical land-management and policy decisions.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why NAU School of Forestry faculty members <\/span>Alark Saxena<\/span><\/b>, <\/span>Luke Ritter<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>Derek Uhey<\/span><\/b> took it upon themselves to understand foresters\u2019 relationship with AI: how they\u2019re using it now, how they hope to leverage it in the future and what concerns them. They conducted 20 in-depth interviews with forestry professionals in the Southwest and recently <\/span>published their findings in Forest Policy and Economics<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe noticed a great deal of discussion about the potential of AI in forestry, but very little research on how the professionals on the ground actually feel about it,\u201d Saxena, an associate professor of human dimensions of forestry, said. \u201cThis study was our first investigation into the topic, motivated by the need to understand the human side of this technological shift.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nIn their interviews with foresters working across academia, government and private industry, the research team discovered that no one in forestry wants AI to replace human expertise or make critical decisions without oversight from real people.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are particularly concerned about the \u2018black box\u2019 problem where they can\u2019t understand AI\u2019s decision-making process, creating serious accountability issues,\u201d Saxena said. \u201cA key concern they shared was the risk of training AI using some agencies\u2019 poor-quality or biased data and then trusting its flawed outputs for important land management or policy analysis\u201d\u2014like mandates on where to administer prescribed burns or allow clear-cutting.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the forestry professionals they interviewed agreed AI could be a useful tool in supporting some aspects of their work. With current labor shortages leaving them overworked and burned out, the workers agreed they\u2019d welcome AI help with monotonous tasks like summarizing information, lesson planning and filling out routine paperwork.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey also see great potential in using AI for complex data analysis, such as <\/span>with light detection and ranging<\/span><\/a>, as long as it functions as an assistant that enhances, rather than replaces, the judgment of an experienced professional,\u201d Saxena said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ritter said he hopes others across the United States and the globe will conduct interviews with forestry professionals to capture a wider range of perspectives on AI. Getting a full understanding of professionals\u2019 fears about\u2014and recommendations for\u2014the use of AI could help leaders create policies that guide future forestry work.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s challenging to ethically implement AI when we, as foresters, have gaps in our knowledge about how and why it’s being used,\u201d Ritter said. \u201cThis study highlighted some interesting themes, but we need to keep discussing AI in the classroom and the workplace. We hope this paper provides a foundation for policy changes and further research as AI continues to grow.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/span><\/p>\n


\nJill Kimball | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-2282 | jill.kimball@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The whole world is buzzing about the potential and pitfalls of artificial intelligence\u2014including those who work in forestry.\u00a0 AI could revolutionize forestry, making it possible to save more lives and ecosystems through faster and more accurate data analysis. But if forestry professionals aren\u2019t careful, AI could also botch critical land-management and policy decisions.\u202f\u00a0 That\u2019s why…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":75871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}