That’s a Wrap! Spring Pilots 2021
Between April and June of this year, our team travelled over 10,000 km and planted over 300,000 seed pods, completing the largest drone reforestation project in Canadian history! We planted 19 different species across 13 sites and couldn’t be more excited about the results.
Vancouver
Our first stop was in Vancouver British Columbia, where our team visited Malcolm Knapp Research Forest and planted thousands of Sitka spruce, Western redcedar, Western hemlock, Douglas fir and many more. Our results have been coming in and we are thrilled. Western redcedar, in particular, surpassing all expectations. Good thing it’s one of our favourites!
Vancouver Island
The team travelled to three different biomes on Vancouver Island, including Nanaimo, Port Alberni and Port Renfrew, where we got the unique opportunity to plant in some of the wettest biomes in North America. While discouraged by the extent of deforestation on the island, we feel increasingly motivated to accelerate our technology and restore this unique ecosystem back to its natural state. As fellow tree-huggers, we also couldn’t help but stop by and visit some ancient Western redcedars and Douglas firs (the same species we planted).
Northern BC
Our experience in the Sub-Boreal Spruce stands of Northern British Columbia was filled with firsts. Our plant scientist Quirin designed pods to test Western larch, Lodgepole pine, Subalpine fir for the first time in a field setting. We planted in areas ravaged by wildfire and logged sites to understand the impacts of different forest conditions on our seedlings. While Prince George and BC as a whole experienced record breaking temperatures and prolonged drought this summer, we were thrilled to see many of our seedlings withstand the elements and properly establish. There is much work to be done and we can’t wait to return to Prince George.
Northern Alberta
In 2016, Fort McMurray was destroyed by wildfire, forcing the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta’s history. In May, we got to work with incredible local partners to conduct the first-ever drone reforestation trial in Fort McMurray. We planted in White spruce stands which have failed to regenerate, planting over the burnt tree canopy where it is too unsafe for tree planters to enter. We also planted in forests that were over 1 kilometre from our base and were able to send our drones on remote planting missions without issue.
While there, we had the honour of showcasing our operations to our friends at Emissions Reductions Alberta with the Government of Alberta:
Northern Ontario
For the final leg of our trip, we headed back to Ontario and brought three of our engineers from Toronto to visit the bush in person. The majority of our team now has had the opportunity to participate directly in a reforestation pilot and to see the reality of the situation firsthand. We got to travel across the boreal ecosystems on Northern Ontario, planting Spruce and Pine trees across burned and cleared forests and even managed to do a planting project on farmland. The boreal forest represents the largest land biome on earth and we cannot wait to scale our efforts in this incredible ecosystem.
As we continue our preparation for our R&D pilots this Fall, we wait with eager intensity to put into practice the things we have learned from Spring 2021. See you soon western Canada for Fall 2021 pilots, and then next stop… Hawaii!
