B.C.B次元官网网址檚 forest industry has been buoyed by high construction demand and prices during the COVID-19 recession, and public health restrictions have pushed the industry into new areas of innovation.
B次元官网网址淩emote sensingB次元官网网址� is a term familiar to the mining industry, where has a long-standing program to scan vast areas from aircraft to look for magnetic signatures of mineral deposits. At this weekB次元官网网址檚 virtual B.C. Natural Resources Forum, participants heard about the growth of virtual forestry using drones.
Mike Wilcox, president of a Vancouver startup called FYBR Inc., told a forest industry panel about the growth of his company that accelerated as pandemic restrictions forced new ways of doing business.
B次元官网网址淲e bought our first drone, we set up our office at the entrepreneurship building at UBC, and we started cold-calling,B次元官网网址� Wilcox told the forum in a video conference Jan. 27. B次元官网网址淲e started cold-calling mines, bulk terminals oil and gas companies and forest companies.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淲e saw older, experienced foresters using this information to share wisdom with younger, tech-savvy foresters who were keen to take on the role of drone pilots"
B次元官网网址� Tom Fletcher (@tomfletcherbc)
- FYBR Inc. president Mike Wilcox
Growing up in Kamloops in the heart of the B.C. Interior led him to focus on forest industry to find specialized solutions.
B次元官网网址淲e collaborated with the integrated remote sensing lab at UBC to start to answer some questions such as, can we use drones to assess forest inventory throughout the harvest cycle?B次元官网网址� Wilcox said.B次元官网网址淐an we identify early infestation or burn severity? Can we accurately measure wood inventory at pulp mills, sawmills and pellet plants?B次元官网网址�
Travelling to B.C.B次元官网网址檚 forest industry competitors in Scandinavia and the southeastern U.S. showed the need for B.C. to innovate or fall behind. FYBR Inc. is currently managing inventory for 50 mills in North America, and processing thousands of hectares of forest imagery each month. And with travel and in-person meetings restricted, the technology found new uses like meeting governmentsB次元官网网址� increasing demand for environmental reporting.
B次元官网网址淒igitizing the forest or mill and bringing it to a virtual boardroom has been incredibly powerful, especially during this pandemic when we canB次元官网网址檛 all physically be in the same room,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淲e saw older, experienced foresters using this information to share wisdom with younger, tech-savvy foresters who were keen to take on the role of drone pilots. We saw industry working with government to adopt a new technology and a new process to improve fibre utilization and reporting.B次元官网网址�
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For the B.C. government, maintaining inventory of the vast Crown lands of B.C.B次元官网网址檚 Interior and Coast has long been a challenge. The forests ministry needs to not only monitor harvest licences and watershed protection, but measure the extent of forest fire damage to replant forests.
At a separate panel with B.C. cabinet ministers Jan. 28, Forests Minister Katrine Conroy said B.C. planted a record 300 million trees in 2020. B次元官网网址淭hey did it without a single COVID outbreak in any of their camps, which is pretty incredible,B次元官网网址� Conroy said.
The federal government has made a further commitment to tree planting, although there hasnB次元官网网址檛 been a federal budget in more than a year to dedicate funds to a plan that also extends to urban areas.
A Seattle company called DroneSeed is using large drones to drop what it calls B次元官网网址渟eed vesselsB次元官网网址� on burned areas of forest, but it isnB次元官网网址檛 as good as boots on the ground setting seedlings by hand.
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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