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This paper compares and contrasts predictions of forest height in Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) plantations based on medium‐resolution Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), high‐resolution IKONOS satellite imagery and airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data. The relationship between field‐measured height and LiDAR height is linear and highly significant (R² 0.98). Despite the difference in spatial resolution and radiometry between Landsat ETM+ and IKONOS multi‐spectral data, the strength of the relationship between field height and predicted height using the green spectral band was very similar, with R² values of 0.84 and 0.85, respectively. The inclusion of additional observations taken from the LiDAR data improved the strength of the relationship slightly for the Landsat ETM+ data (R² = 0.87), but did not change the relationship for the IKONOS data (R² = 0.84). Comparison of …