Drones used in Forestry
September 12, 2018 3:28 pm Leave your thoughts
Welcome back to my blog!
Happy September everyone! It already feels like fall in Thunder Bay because the mornings are cool, and the air is crisp. As always, Thunder Bay is a beautiful place to be and often, the sun is shining. As I have previously mentioned in my other blogs, there is an endless number of things to do and see here north-western, Ontario. In today’s blog, I’ll be sharing another incredible experience that I had this summer while working for Resolute Forest Products.
I’ll start off with saying how much I enjoyed walking in the Boreal Forest this summer. Personally, I found it neat to watch the world around me bloom. One aspect of my job that I most enjoyed was the opportunity to conduct field work. Sometimes, working in the field can be challenging; from inclement weather to atypical terrain or encountering wildlife, field work can always be a daunting challenge. Fortunately, I always had great days when working in the field, and I learned a lot from my experiences and my co-workers. In the natural resources sector, it is common to refer to field work as “boots on the ground” work. I think a lot of people can agree that conducting field work is very important, and the only way to really to investigate an area of interest.
Now a days, with the advancement of technology, there are other ways of conducting field work and collecting information that you may not have been able to collect when working with your “boots on the ground.” Another way that Resolute in Thunder Bay collects information from the field is with the utilization of unmanned aerial vehicles or the more common name for them, drones! Resolute owns three flying camera drones which can capture images and record videos from the air. A drone is operated by a ground-based controller using an application on a smartphone. The drone sends live videos to the smartphone when in flight. The operator can control every movement of the drone using the ground-based controller. Drones are user friendly, light weight and portable. They are a very popular piece of equipment these days!
Resolute uses drones to capture footage of the forested areas that they manage. The imagery that is obtained can reveal a ton of information! Some things Resolute currently uses their drones for include: pre, current and post harvest work, identifying potential harvest block areas, tree composition in a harvest block and identifying areas of concern etc. Drones are a multipurposed piece of equipment.
Earlier on this summer, my two of my-coworkers and I headed north on Highway 527 to Armstrong, Ontario, to scope out a potential harvest block area. I remember this day very vividly because my two co-workers were very excited to use the new virtual reality (VR) head-set that Resolute purchased to accompany the drone. The VR head-set connects to the drone and makes it easier for the operator to view the area being observed with the drone. Prior to the VR head-set, the operator would just use their smartphone to observe the area. Now having the VR head-set, more than one person can observe as the drone flies. When were finished using the drone, we packed it away and decided to get our boots dirty. We threw on our personal protective equipment and ventured into the bush (my favourite). Although technology is impressive, no recording device can capture a moment in time the way our eyes and our minds can capture a moment. Have you ever wished that your camera could capture what you were seeing in-person? I know I do, but that’s what memories are for.
Below you will find some impressive footage of an active harvesting operation in the Dog River Matawin Forest using a flying camera drone. In the video, the first thing you will notice is a skidder operator skidding a bundle of trees to the roadside. The skidder operator skids the trees to the roadside, then a delimber or a processer operator processes the trees.
Then next thing you will see is a feller buncher operator lowering a bundle of trees to the ground. The operator is piling the trees for the skidder operator to skid the trees to roadside.
As the drone hovers and the harvest block opens, you can clearly see several trees that have been retained in the block. These retention trees are very important for wildlife. Forest management also aims to emulate natural disturbances hence trees being left in the harvest block.
After the trees have been harvested in the block, every tree will be skidded to roadside and the remaining debris will be piled near the roadside. This is a standard forest management practice.
One other thing to notice is the cut-to-length logs at roadside. After the trees have been processed, they are cut and piled for a log-haul truck to load the logs and deliver them to the mill.
The footage that is obtained from the drones is remarkable! It is very useful for the Operational Foresters at Resolute, as they can observe the harvesting operations from above! At the end of the day, field work is essential in the natural resources sector and this advancement in technology enhances the information that we obtain from the field.
Thanks for reading!