 The results of this study suggest that lidar data can be used to accurately estimate forest inventory variables such as average height, top height, quadratic mean diameter, basal area, gross total volume, gross merchantable volume, total aboveground biomass, and stem density. This is true even when using a lower density of lidar points than previously thought necessary. This article was authored by Dave Etheridge, Dave Nesbitt, Doug Pitt, and others.