Seris Forest Analytics · Forest reporting interoperability
U.S. forest data, translated into the evidence international regulators, carbon markets and reporting frameworks accept.
Technical consultant on FACT, the USDA-sponsored forest carbon platform. Author of the Sustainable Biomass Program's RED III guidance for U.S. biomass producers. Lead coordinating author of USDA's forest-sector greenhouse gas methods.
Current work
Seris converts forest science and data into actionable insight for sustainable management, forest products trade policy and forest resources reporting: greenhouse gas quantification tools and methods, and the technical analysis behind carbon projects.
Platform · U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities
A USDA-sponsored digital platform, built in partnership with the USDA Forest Service, NCASI and industry, that gives forest landowners, wood product producers and buyers authoritative data and methods to quantify carbon in forests and harvested wood products across the value chain.
RoleTechnical consultant, deeply involved in its development and launch
Certification · EU RED III
A transparent, step-by-step supply-base risk assessment built on USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis data, so U.S. producers exporting certified wood pellets to Europe can demonstrate RED III compliance. She also assessed forest carbon stock compliance for feedstock from Estonia and Latvia under SBP Standard 1, Indicator 3.2.1 (RED III Article 29(7)), with a template other sourcing countries can reuse.
RoleAuthor
Advisory · Carbon projects and policy
For RAMO Earth: carbon project feasibility across U.S. landholdings, combining national forest datasets, first-order carbon accumulation modeling and evaluation of suitable methodologies, translated into standardized evaluation procedures and mapping tools in RAMO's cloud-based platform for nature-based solutions. For the National Alliance of Forest Owners: defensible policy positions built from forest and climate data, including analysis of FAO forest monitoring standards and FIA alignment, and of what U.S. FAO reporting means for EUDR benchmarking.
RoleTechnical consultant
Highlights
USDA's 2024 guidance on greenhouse gas accounting for forest management, adopted federally for NEPA analyses and climate-impact monitoring of federal grants. U.S. Forest Service Chief's Award, 2024.
USDA Technical Bulletin 1939, Ch. 5 · 2024
Led technical discussions on U.S. forest definitions and their policy implications for the United States' submission to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's Global Forest Resources Assessment.
USDA Forest Service FIA · 2024
The 2020 U.S. national report on conditions and trends across more than 50 biophysical and socioeconomic indicators of forest sustainability.
USDA Forest Service FS-1217
Appointed to review national greenhouse gas reporting under the UN climate convention.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
A webtool that estimates the greenhouse gas impacts of land use activities across USAID programs, with training workshops she led around the world.
Winrock International
Including developing a new approach for quantifying national carbon removals from reforestation activities.
Winrock International
The principal
Lara Murray founded Seris Forest Analytics in 2025 after five years with USDA Forest Service Research and Development, where she led national strategy and coordination on carbon dynamics in U.S. forests and grasslands, managed the Forest Sustainability Assessment Program, served as a lead coordinating author of USDA's forest-sector greenhouse gas methods, and was lead analyst for the United States' submission to FAO's Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025.
Before that, at Winrock International, she was a subject matter expert and project lead on carbon accounting for public and private clients, developed greenhouse gas accounting tools, and provided technical assistance to national forest monitoring and REDD+ programs, including in Guyana, Ghana and Malawi. She holds an MSc from the EU Erasmus Mundus Sustainable Tropical Forestry program at the University of Copenhagen and TU Dresden, and works in English, Portuguese and Italian.
Correspondencelara@serisforestanalytics.comLinkedInGoogle Scholar
Practice
Supply-base risk assessments, compliance procedures and regional evidence built on national forest inventory data, for the EU Deforestation Regulation, EU RED III and certification standards such as SBP.
Built on · Author of SBP's RED III Level B LULUCF Guidance; analysis of FAO monitoring standards and what U.S. FAO reporting means for EUDR benchmarking.
Greenhouse gas quantification tools and methodologies, carbon stock estimation, methodology review and technical analysis for carbon projects.
Built on · Lead coordinating author of USDA's forest-sector GHG quantification methods; creator of the USAID AFOLU Carbon Calculator.
Delivered as technical reports, methodology reviews, briefings for decision-makers, training and data tools. Scientific evidence advisory, not legal advice; Seris works alongside your counsel.
Record
Publications
Complete list on Google Scholar.
Correspondence
Engagements are scoped individually, against the decision the work has to support.
Request a proposalOr write directly: lara@serisforestanalytics.com