Mobile terrestrial LiDAR (MTL) systems have the potential to identify individual stems and serve as the basis for autonomous or semi -autonomous machine navigation. A small scale field trial was conducted to determine the accuracy with which a MTL system could map and extract stem positions and characteristics such as DBH. The trial yielded operationally accurate data at distances less than 15m, however, the study highlighted the need to optimize acquisition geometry to satisfy the model’s need for more ground reference points at further distances.