UI Experimental Forest

We are the primary smart and digital forestry research unit and facility at the University of Idaho. Research on the UIEF is writing the future of tech-oriented forestry at the intersection of AI, remote sensing, and advanced forest operations. From the earliest lidar applications in forestry in the early 2000’s to the first complete operational, single-tree inventory in 2019, the first uses of smartwatches and smartphones to model forestry, silviculture, logging worker and equipment activities to pioneering real-time mapping of logging equipment logistics, we have long been the US hub for innovation in production forestry technology and smart forestry systems.

We have a century of leadership providing hands-on experiential learning and are proud to be the only 4-year forestry program in the United States with a fully mechanized, production Student Logging Crew. The Idaho Forestry and Natural Resources Collaborative (IFNRC), housed in a new (2026) facility on the UIEF, is a partnership between Idaho’s forest products industry, the University, and K-12 schools throughout the state providing workforce training and development to support the forestry, forest products industries of the future.