Drones in Forestry and Wildlife

The lungs of the planet

The source of all aesthetic beauties

A home away from the city life and commotion

Forests are the key to our satisfaction

All it deserves is care and devotion

Forests are the most ancient and priceless possessions of nature and the biggest gift of nature to humankind. Without the forests, the survival of humankind on this planet would have been questionable. 

Speaking of drones, they are the biggest boon of mankind to their own self. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles have a solution to almost every problem persisting in society and have opened up the doors of development and progress for all.

Technology in the forestry industry has had a long, storied history. From the inception of river raft transports to forest railways to the first portable chainsaw, the industry has never been a stranger to seeking out new advancements.  And when it comes to monitoring plant health, performing inspections, and improving safety, a few forestry enterprises have begun exploring drone use across their operations, with many already realizing its benefits. How great would it be if we could bring into use the biggest boon of mankind, the drones to transform the biggest boon of nature, the forests for a better cause?

Well, we are more than sure that this association would be a fruitful solution to many difficulties. Let’s see how!

Under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, hunting and poaching of animals are banned in India. But who is going to ensure that the law is followed? Though forest guards and able officers from the forest department have been deployed, yet it is impossible for them to be present everywhere safeguarding the animals. That’s where the drones come into the picture. These UAVs can fly from place to place covering the entire forest. They can help the forest officers to monitor the movements of animals as well as the predators, and keep a check on Poaching activities. Besides that, the drones can be helpful in preparing Habitat Suitability Maps for each species and their habitat residing in a particular forest. It can also help in the management of Human-Wildlife Conflicts. 

"It can be particularly useful in monitoring poaching of lesser-known species. But drone technology can only detect poaching and so it should be backed by on-ground staff monitoring.” - Shekhar Kumar Niraj, Head of wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC

Just like any other area, it is important to access the entire forest land before we start making any modifications in its natural fit. The drones can develop a proper geospatial database for the construction of National Parks, Sanctuaries and biosphere reserves. Such maps can prove to be of great help for the forest authorities to assess the growing stock, biomass, increment of forest covers. Along with all these, the well-equipped drones also provide services like forest thematic mapping essential for the assessment of forest covers in adjoining areas of proposed canals and water reservoir projects.

We can’t just go on planting trees and creating forests. Though it sounds like something an ideal environmentalist would say, yet practically, we need to properly assess the area before initiating plantations. With the help of the advanced IG Drones, assessing the forest covers and estimating the survival percentage of plantation or afforestation is now a matter of few hours. Besides that, we can also have a rough estimate of the damage to the forest covers caused due to natural calamities such as the widespread forest fires.

There’s a host of successes the forestry industry can achieve if they implement drones into their operations, including further in-depth analysis through digital elevation models, monitoring harvest operations, and performing survival assessments and stream inspections.  Drones are proving to be effective and relatively affordable forest management tools, and with more and more companies tapping into the technology, the future for the forestry industry looks bright.

With IG Drones, you can incorporate the use of UAVs in Forestry and wildlife by simply ruling out the conventional methods of employing a large number of manual taskforces in the deep forest covers among the not-so human friendly wildlife, putting their life and well being at stake. With the advancing technology and the entire civilization looking into time saving and pocket friendly methods to carry out their activities, a major shift towards the use of drones in forestry is a must!