Forestry Missions That Map the Whole Stand

Timber cruising used to be boots-on-ground with a compass and pacing. Now it's a drone flying a terrain-following grid, returning a canopy height model and tree count in hours.

Built for this mission

Terrain-follow under canopy cover

Forest floors aren't flat. Muninn samples worldwide elevation data and holds constant AGL so photogrammetry produces an accurate canopy height model.

Large parcels on one battery

Forestry plots are big. Muninn's auto-split intelligently carves missions at battery-safe breakpoints so you don't run out mid-stand.

Output to Pix4D / DroneDeploy / ODM

Cloud processing outputs LAS point clouds — the native format for forestry analytics (LASTools, FUSION, Digital-Forestry).

Recommended settings

Starting values for this use case. Tune to your drone, your lighting, and your target.

Mission Type
Area (large polygon over stand)
Altitude
100-120m AGL (over tallest canopy)
Overlap
85% front / 75% side (dense canopy needs high overlap)
Gimbal
-90° (nadir)
Capture
Hover & shoot for tight point clouds; continuous for fast coverage
Terrain
Follow ON — essential on any slope

How to fly it

  1. 1Draw polygon over the stand, including a buffer for edges.
  2. 2Altitude 110m (above tallest canopy), overlap 85/75.
  3. 3Terrain-follow ON; cross-hatch for CHM accuracy.
  4. 4Expect 2-4 batteries for 40+ acres.
  5. 5Process in Muninn cloud → LAS → forestry analytics.
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Questions we hear

What about areas with GPS-denied canopy?

Dense canopy can degrade GPS. Fly above canopy (120m AGL) and let terrain-follow handle the rest. Never descend into the canopy without visual contact.

Can I count trees?

With a dense point cloud (LAS from 85/75 overlap) and FUSION or similar tools, yes. Accuracy 80-95% depending on species and density.

Is drone forestry accepted by state foresters?

Varies by state. Many accept drone-derived CHM for pre-cruise screening but still require ground truth for volume estimates.

Other missions you might fly

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