Chatting with Forestry Guidelines: Using Chatbots to Improve Access to Complex Forest Knowledge

Abstract

Forestry guidelines play a crucial role in translating environmental policy into actionable practices, yet they are often complex, text-heavy, and difficult for non-experts to navigate. In this paper, we present a prototype called Forea Bot, a conversational AI system developed to address the challenge of accessing forest knowledge. The system uses a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architecture. Developed from a socioinformatics perspective, it combines large language models with curated forestry documents and is shaped by participatory design insights. We present findings from an evaluation conducted during a workshop with forestry stakeholders and discuss how such systems shape trust in chatbot responses and make visible tensions between conflicting sources of knowledge in forestry-related communication. While not a substitute for expert consultation, our findings suggest that chatbots like Forea Bot can complement traditional channels of knowledge exchange, particularly in domains characterized by complexity, value pluralism, and limited access to expertise.