
Natural Assets
Problem Statement
Land managers, in particular municipal governments, face significant struggles effectively managing natural assets with current tools and processes. Currently, natural asset management requires a qualified person to go into the field to monitor natural assets. This labor and time intensity makes it too expensive and infeasible to have proper natural asset management.
This is where our project comes in. With 5G technology, there is a potential to create a new, low-cost system for monitoring, and hence better managing and utilizing the services of natural assets. We are working with a team from Forest Resources Management and Electrical and Computer Engineering to deploy a low-cost tree monitoring sensor network on campus.
The natural assets at UBC Vancouver campus make it an ideal location for this project. This includes Pacific Spirit Park, but also trees along Main Mall and grassy areas scattered around campus.

Project Approach
This project looks at integrating natural assets within high-tech environments, like smart cities, to create resilient ecosystems and human developments. To create a framework to better manage and utilize natural assets, this project uses low-latency sensors and remote sensing technology to monitor natural assets and human interactions.
Research Team

Mike Kennedy
Co-I
Director, Urban Data Lab

Lorien Nesbitt
PI
Assistant Professor, Department of Forest Resources Management

Susan Day
Co-I
Professor, Department of Forest Resources Management

Edmond Cretu
Co-I
Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Angela Rout
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Forest Resources Management

Ibrahim El-chami
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Forest Resources Management + Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sophie Nitoslawski
PhD Candidate, Department of Forest

Amy
Blood
PhD Student, Department of Forest

Natasha Mattson
Research Assistant, Urban Data Lab + Department of Forest Resources Management
Collaborators



