About the Project

The Iowa Forestry Media Library (IFML) is an open-access initiative dedicated to digitizing and preserving high-resolution botanical imagery for forestry education and research.

The Mission

Forestry students and professionals often rely on field guides with small, low-resolution printed images. The IFML seeks to solve this by providing 4K+ resolution scans of dendrology specimens, allowing users to zoom in on critical identification features—from the texture of a winter bud to the venation of a leaf.

The Methodology

Specimens in this library are sourced from verified field collections within the Midwest region. We utilize high-fidelity flatbed scanning techniques to capture botanical details often lost in traditional photography.

Technical Standards:

• Resolution: All specimens are scanned at a minimum of 1200 DPI, allowing for microscopic examination of leaf venation and bud scars.
• Lighting: Controlled, calibrated lighting eliminates shadows and lens distortion, ensuring accurate color reproduction for identification.
• Data Integrity: Master files are preserved in lossless 48-bit TIFF format to ensure no data is lost to compression over time.

Open Access

We believe that educational resources should be free. All data in this library is hosted publicly on Zenodo and GitHub, ensuring it remains accessible to students, researchers, and the public indefinitely.

Citing This Library

If you use these images in research or educational materials, please cite the collection as follows:

Iowa Forestry Media Library. (2026). Digital Dendrology Archive. Retrieved from https://iowaforestrymedialibrary.org