The Basemap forest dataset serves as the foundation of the Natural Capital Exchange (NCX). The probabilistic model provides acre-by-acre intelligence on the location, diameter, and species of trees across the continental United States.

By combining Basemap forest cover and composition data with economics, timber-harvest pricing, and regional information, NCX can give an accurate assessment of timber and carbon value for every acre of land at no cost to the landowner.

Using the Basemap dataset, NCX delivers precise assessments of the timber and carbon potential of every acre in the United States. NCX data scientists update Basemap yearly, combining cutting-edge AI Bayesian methods and deep learning with satellite imagery, ground measurements, and forestry knowledge for increasing precision.

NCX fully quantifies uncertainty for each pixel, enabling the incorporation of uncertainty into decision-making and uncovering opportunities to drive additional improvements. Importantly, our ongoing collaboration with academics, landowners, foresters, and NGOs helps ensure accountability for our ever-evolving United States forest map dataset.

Tree age and species can vary significantly from acre to acre. The Basemap forest map uses high resolution satellite imagery, climate and biogeography data, field measurements, expert knowledge of forest structure and stand dynamics, and statistical modeling to assess forest composition and structure down to the 30m x 30m level.

This level of detail allows NCX to report not only on carbon and timber values but on habitat quality and suitability metrics for individual species or groups of species—beginning with endangered species, vulnerable species, and game species in the US South.

Landowners across America rely on Basemap for precise assessments of the market value of their forests. When a landowner in Carroll County, Mississippi, for example, has measurements of every tree 1” or more in diameter on their property, they have a deeper understanding of their land. A decade of working alongside landowners and foresters allowed us to build Basemap. Now we return that knowledge via Basemap assessments and NCX, to help landowners and foresters steward the land and realize its value beyond timber.