QField is used across the full span of forestry fieldwork:

• Forest inventory and plot sampling , with structured tree-level forms and plot geometry
• Silviculture and harvesting operations tracking , from planting blocks to post-harvest verification
• Forest habitat and biodiversity mapping , under dense canopy and in remote terrain
• Forest health monitoring , tracking pests, disease, and tree condition over time
• Forest road and infrastructure inventory
• Riparian buffer monitoring and compliance documentation

Working under canopy

Forest fieldwork sits in the hardest conditions for mobile mapping. Mobile data is unreliable. GPS multipath under dense canopy degrades positioning. Crews spend days at a time out of office contact, often in environments where a paper notebook still feels like the safer bet.

QField is built for those conditions. Basemaps and layers are packaged onto the device before the crew leaves the office, so nothing depends on a network connection. Forms can be tuned to forestry data with value-relation widgets for species codes, numeric constraints for DBH and height, and required-photo rules at any decision point. For survey-grade positioning, external GNSS receivers connect over Bluetooth with live accuracy visible during capture.

One workflow with QGIS and QFieldCloud

Forestry teams prepare the project in QGIS once, push it to every device through QFieldCloud , and run conflict-safe sync at the end of each day. The same QGIS project that an inventory crew uses in the field is the one the office uses to plan next year’s operations.

See QField in real forestry projects

Look at how QField is being used by forestry and forest-conservation programmes around the world:

• Young farmers reduce deforestation by 71% in Ghana , through community-led monitoring in the Tano Offin Forest Reserve
• Community-led mapping for land rights and forest protection in Sarawak , with the Bruno Manser Fonds
• Building on top of QFieldCloud , in Italian green infrastructure inventory
• Browse all forestry success stories →

Silviculture and harvesting teams use QField across the operations cycle:

• Planting block capture and verification against the plan
• Harvest block boundary tracking and post-harvest reconciliation
• Riparian buffer monitoring and compliance documentation
• Forest road, culvert, and crossing inventory
• Stream crossing condition assessment
• Post-harvest stand attributes for next-rotation planning

Built for verification, not just planning

A lot of forestry tooling is built for the proponent. QField sits cleanly on either side of the relationship. Forestry operators use it to track and document their own work. Independent organisations, including conservation groups and regulators, use the same tool to verify what actually happened on the ground after operations are complete. The data lives in whichever party’s QGIS project and QFieldCloud account makes sense.

One workflow with QGIS and QFieldCloud

Operations plans go from QGIS to every tablet through QFieldCloud . Field crews capture activity, condition, and evidence as they work. The office sees the data the next time devices sync. Conflict-safe merges keep multiple crews working the same season without overwriting each other.

Forestry operations stories

• Building on top of QFieldCloud , where GINVE’s operators capture trees, shrubs, hedges, and turf across municipal landscapes
• Browse all forestry success stories →

Looking for the broader picture? See QField for forestry and silviculture → .