The growing outbreak of omicron in New Zealand has resulted in the upcoming ForestTECH 2021/22 moving to a completely virtual online event. It will still be run on 22-23 February 2022 and open to all New Zealanders, Australians and the wider international community. Current registrations, which number well over 260, have all been transferred to the online event. While FIEA …
The drone industry in 5 years’ time
When I registered the company name Australian UAV in early 2103 the landscape for drone technology was very different to that that we work in today. There were 35 ReOC holders in Australia (at time of writing this article there are now 2437). To become an operator, you needed to complete and pass the private pilot’s licence exam and CASA …
New radio technology keeps workers safe and compliant
Otago forestry workers are using new radio technology to manage 23,730 hectares of forest more safely, even enabling them to perform under Covid-19 restrictions. Initially deployed to replace an outdated analogue radio network, the system delivers many additional benefits for forestry company, City Forests. Among those benefits are contact-free communication and social distancing in the field, replacing the news for …
Development of a canopy sampling drone
This video is part of the paper, “Design and Testing of a Novel Unoccupied Aircraft System for the Collection of Forest Canopy Samples,” by researchers from the University of Tasmania and Melbourne’s Victoria University. Funding was provided by FWPA and the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
Upscaling of Terrestrial Laser Scanning through fusion with remote sensing data
Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is increasingly being fused with air/spaceborne Lidar to characterise vegetation structure across a range of forest ecosystems. This article explores the potential of this approach to support scaling up for larger areas in practice. TLS is an important tool for plot-scale measurements of tree and forest structure. These local measurements are meaningful to support the quantification …
New biomass mapping tool launched
Mapping the world’s carbon stores is essential for taking stock of the climate crisis. It informs our climate solutions, the emissions targets’ that countries set and so – it goes without saying – the figures need to be as accurate as possible. It’s not an easy picture to take, however. Humans are constantly upsetting the amount of carbon in forests, …
Longest endurance UAV flight in NZ
Media Release [21 Dec 2021]: Kea Aerospace Achieves Longest Endurance UAV Flight In New Zealand On Sunday 19th December Kea Aerospace has recorded the longest known flight for an unmanned aircraft in New Zealand, in an electric-powered flight above Kaitōrete, near Christchurch. The battery and solar-powered vehicle flew non-stop for 14 hours and 3 minutes, beating the previous record of …
New farm forestry program launched
Tuesday marked the official launch of a new, innovative farm forestry program, Decision Tree, in Bunbury, Western Australia. Decision Tree has been designed to rapidly assess the suitability of farms for plantation forestry, as well as provide information and assistance to landowners seeking to plant trees. Through Decision Tree’s unique assessment tool, farmers or landowners simply add in a few …
UAV’s for collecting forest canopy samples
Last year we detailed a forest canopy sampling tool that was developed by a Canadian company, DeLeaves and is being used operationally, principally in North America and Europe. Suspended under an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the sampling tool is self-powered, equipped with an HD camera, and has two robotic arms there to grab and cut foliage samples from trees. As …
Bushfire spread prediction model now operational
Australia’s national science agency CSIRO and the NSW Rural Fire Service have released Australia’s most advanced model for predicting the speed and behaviour of eucalypt forest fires, helping to save lives and property during bushfires. Eucalypts make up more than 70 per cent of Australia’s forests and some of Australia’s most extreme fire events, such as the 2009 Black Saturday …