A method and apparatus for generating information about a forest (204). A number of locations (236) in the forest (204) are identified over which an electromagnetic energy sensor system (311) in an unmanned aerial vehicle (230) generates the information about the forest (204) by generating a point cloud (234) with a resolution (239) that meets a point cloud threshold (243). A route (232) is generated for the unmanned aerial vehicle (230) to move to the number of locations (236) and generate the information about the forest (204) in the number of locations (236).
