Expanding use of drones in forests
THE LIST OF USES THAT DRONES CAN BE PUT TO IN FORESTRY continues to grow.
They are already being employed in New Zealand to help fire fighters monitor the progress of forest fires and seek out hot spots from the air. And, one forester is even using a drone to set strawlines for his yarder. But they are still in their infancy and a forest company that is helping to introduce drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to this industry, has mapped out a wider number of uses for them.
Robin Hartley, who is the UAV Team Leader with Interpine forest consultants, outlined those uses to the Harvest TECH 2017 conference in Rotorua.
He says drones are quickly moving beyond the novelty stage and they are now entering the realm of useful tool, with their advantages already recognised in rural fire fighting as illustrated in the fire that ravaged the Port Hills above Christchurch earlier this year. Interpine was called upon to use its drones as a ‘mobile fire towers’ to help fire fighters keep ahead of the fast-moving blaze.
He can also see many uses with harvesting crews, including monitoring manual tree fallers to ensure they are safe. A drone tethered to an external power source could remain in the air for several hours to perform this duty, overcoming the short flight times allowed by on-board batteries. A tethered drone could be used to provide an improved view of the hill for yarder operators.
Drones can also be used to perform safety inspections on haulers, where they can fly up close to the top of a tower to look for wear and faults.
The crew boss or foreman could also use an aerial shot taken by a drone to identify hazards or discuss site activities during tailgate meetings.
Robin expects the technology to be taken up by forest managers, their harvest planning teams in particular.
Aerial views will provide harvest planners with a fast over-view of the trees to be cut down and the terrain to complement their mapping information and ground work. And as harvesting gets under way, a drone will provide a quick view of progress at the cut-over from a safe distance. Similarly, drones can be used as a post-harvest assessment tool, to check a site that has already been cut.
Larger drones could be used for weed control on sites with difficult access and may well be used to deliver tools, radios or other equipment to crew members away from the main site.
There are strict aviation rules that govern the use of drones in New Zealand, which has led Interpine to join forces with Massey University’s aviation school to train and certify people in their use.
Interpine can also provide drone packages for those who wish to employ the technology, which includes spare batteries. The company is looking at providing a package for crews that want to use drones to set out strawline, too.
NZL