A team of Canadian scientists have announced a new initiative to use drones to plant new trees cheaply and quickly as an effort to fight against the harmful effects of climate change and deforestation.
The team of Canadian scientists and engineering graduates are calling this initiative, Flash Forest under which they reportedly tested their drone technology systems earlier and successfully planted 100 trees with a drone.
According to Flash Forest, its technology can plant trees ten times faster than a single worker and at a cost that is 80 per cent cheaper than traditional tree planting methods.
The initiative makes use of heavy-lift drones equipped with a pneumatic (gas-operated) firing device. The device is designed to insert the planting pods into the soil at an ideal depth. Each custom-made tree pod contains a minimum of three pre-germinated seeds, mycorrhizae, fertilisers, and an undisclosed additional plant-loving ingredient.
The results were so encouraging the Canadian scientists decided to expand their goals to use their specially designed drone systems to plant a billion new trees by 2028.
Canadian scientists fighting climate change
The WWF estimates we are losing more than 75,000 square kilometres of forests a year, and this includes the carbon capture potential of those trees.
Bryce Jones, the team leader, in a fundraising video announcing the project said every year the planet loses 13 billion trees and regains less than half of that.
According to him, the goal of Flash Forest is aimed at healing the planet until that job is done, as no other job matters to the group of Canadian scientist.
The drones don’t just carry seeds themselves, but pods of nutrient-rich soil packed around three pre-germinated seeds like a casing, according to New Atlas.
The nutrient-rich padding can keep the germinated seeds alive for up to nine months, giving them plenty of time to take root in the local environment.
He explained that each drone would be capable of shooting around one pod per second into the ground, and the system will allow one human pilot to operate as many as ten drones simultaneously.
The team of Canadian scientist noted that Flash wouldn’t focus exclusively on trees but other kinds of plants that complement certain types of trees for full ecosystem recovery.
The results from previously planted tree reportedly caused dry rivers to flow with water. At the same time, more than 170 species of birds and 30 species of mammals returned to the forest cover after having previously departed due to lack of shelter and food sources.
How to plant seeds with drones
How does planting with drones work?
First, the replanting areas are identified using a combination of satellite images and drone-collected data.
Specialised planting drones take to the skies loaded with seedpods containing a germinated seed and nutrients.
Once in position, the drones use pressurised air to fire the seeds into the ground at 120 pods per minute. The seedpods penetrate the earth and start to grow once activated by water.
