The “Kookmin of the Forest” team, composed of students from the Department of Forest and Environmental Systems at Kookmin University (President Jeong Seung Ryul), won the AI Service Creation Award (Grand Prize and the National Institute of Forest Science Director’s Award)—the top prize in the “Current Issues Resolution and Service Creation” category—at the “1st Forest Science AI Application Competition” hosted by the National Institute of Forest Science under the Korea Forest Service.

Held for the first time this year, the competition was organized to solve pressing forestry issues and identify new forestry policies and services by utilizing forest big data and AI technology. A total of 259 participants from 41 universities and 33 institutions and companies nationwide submitted 111 entries. Following document screening and presentation evaluations, seven teams were selected as winners: two in the “Idea Planning” category and five in the “Problem-Solving and Service Creation” category.

The “Citizens of the Forest” team was led by Choi Hee-do, a master’s student in the Department of Climate Technology Convergence at the Graduate School, and included students Na Jeong-woo, Ha Su-beom, and Kim Min-seok from the Department of Forest Environmental Systems. Under the guidance of Professors Lim Chul-Hee and Kang Yoojin, they developed “MOFOM: Multipurpose Forest Management Decision Support AI,” which combines forestry science with AI technology.

“MOFOM” is a web service that allows forest owners to enter the parcel number of their forested land to compare the value of different management plans. It uses satellite imagery to estimate standing timber volume and carbon stock in the forest area and predicts forest growth over the next 30 years based on the National Forest Resource Survey by the National Institute of Forest Science, carbon absorption standards, and mountain weather data. Based on this, it simultaneously presents the expected revenue and carbon absorption for six forest management scenarios, ranging from immediate logging to thinning followed by tending.

The results were compared and verified using actual parcels in Boeun County, North Chungcheong Province, and data from certified forest carbon offset projects. The system is designed so that a language model provides explanations only for completed calculations, thereby minimizing the possibility of numerical errors. The project was also recognized for both its technical sophistication and practical applicability, as the completed service was actually deployed to allow judges to conduct hands-on demonstrations.

Drawing on the forest science and forest management knowledge acquired in the Department of Forest Environment Systems, the students personally carried out the entire process—from satellite image analysis and growth prediction to economic feasibility calculations and web service implementation. In particular, they incorporated concepts covered in their major—such as stand harvesting tables, cutting ages, and the forest carbon offset system—into the service’s calculation structure, thereby transforming their specialized knowledge into a practical forest management decision-making tool.

Team leader Choi Hee-do said, “Although it took a lot of time to integrate forest data scattered across various institutions into a single service, it is meaningful that we were evaluated for having developed it into a form that can actually be used.” He added, “We were able to apply what we learned in our department—such as stand growth and forest management—to solve real-world problems, and we hope to expand the model, which was validated in Boeun, North Chungcheong Province, nationwide to develop it into a service that forest owners can actually utilize.”

△ Photo: The “People of the Forest” team, Grand Prize winner of the 1st Forest Science AI Application Competition