Heavy-lift drones tested for forestry and wildlife management
Trials to test the feasibility of using heavy-lift drones for a number of forestry applications have highlighted yet more game-changing uses of modern drone technology.
Carried out in partnership with DroneWild, which is licensed and insured to fly the drones, the trials were the result of FLS’ fourth collaboration with the Scottish Government’s CivTech programme (Round 9, 2023), which set the challenges of improving the effectiveness of wildlife management and the health and safety of Wildlife Rangers.
Capable of lifting up to 100kg, the drones trialled have a licence to fly BVLOS -VM (Beyond Visual Line of Sight – Visual Mitigations) up to two thousand meters from the pilot’s position with a spotter half-way.
Although the drones are fitted with cameras, the spotter gives radio guidance to the pilot and ensures that the load – E.G. fencing materials or a deer carcass contained within a large ‘carry-bag’ – is securely attached before giving the pilot the all clear to lift.
The SORA (Specific Operational Risk Assessment) and field trials were approved by regulators the Civil Aviation Authority.
Grant Carson, FLS’ Wildlife Ranger Manager, said;
“This is the latest example of drone-based logistics in wildlife management and these heavy lift trials could be a major step change for our field work with several potential applications.
“These trials have proven how effective drones can be in significantly reducing the health and safety challenges that foresters and wildlife rangers have to plan for and manage.
“Whether it’s taking fencing materials to or away from remote and difficult to access locations, or extracting deer carcasses, many forestry jobs are extremely physically demanding.
“The potential applications to which drones like these can be put could be a real game changer for forestry operations.”
Installing or removing deer fencing requires transporting large rolls of wire, fence posts and tools across rugged terrain, often to hard to reach locations that often cannot be accessed by ground vehicles.
Helicopters can be used to transport materials but add carbon emissions as well as considerable expense to the overall costs of the operation.
Similarly, deer are often culled in difficult and remote terrain to reduce unsustainable populations and negative impacts but in order to safely be entered into the human food chain, the carcass has to reach a larder for processing as quickly as possible. This can involve the ranger having to haul a carcass for several miles to transfer it to a ground vehicle.
Being able to use a ‘carry bag’ slung under a heavy-lift drone to transport carcasses to a forest road where a vehicle can then transport them to larder is both more efficient and safer, presenting less risk to the health and safety of our wildlife staff.
DroneWild Director and drone pilot, Ben Harrower, said;
"The early results have been very encouraging.
“Working alongside the FLS team has been a real pleasure, and the trials are already showing where this technology can reduce cost, carbon and risk while opening up parts of the estate that are otherwise hard to reach.
“We look forward to building on this and developing the work further over the coming months."
DroneWild has been pivotal to FLS’ exploration of drone technology, having also taken part in earlier trials of drone mounted thermal imaging cameras to locate deer in the landscape both to improve deer counts and assist in deer management.
Grant added;
“Heavy-lift drones have the potential to reduce the risk to wildlife rangers’ physical health and well-being, make better use of their time and also help to reduce the risk of carcasses spoiling or being contaminated during transportation.
“Drones open up deer management in challenging locations to more people, which has the added benefit of giving us greater workforce flexibility.
Full details of the Challenges can be found on the CivTech Scotland website.
Additional
Deer management is essential to protect new woodland and vulnerable habitats like ancient woodlands or Atlantic rainforest, and to help sustain habitats for a wide range of other species. It can also help improve public safety in some places be reducing the likelihood of road traffic collisions.
After an animal has been humanely culled and gralloched, a Wildlife Ranger must transport the carcass in a safe, hygienic and efficient way while fully complying with food standards legislation and best practise.
A ranger might have to spend five or more hours moving a carcass to the nearest point that a ground vehicle can access - time that could see them apply their considerable skills to other wildlife priorities in an area.
However, recovering a deer carcass, that can weigh as much as 100kg, can be extremely demanding physically. To get it to an All-Terrain Vehicle, a ranger might be required to haul a carcass off the side of a mountain, through standing and felled forests and over ditches, watercourses, peat bogs and rocky slopes.
Notes to editors
- Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) manages forests and land owned by Scottish Ministers in a way that supports and enables economically sustainable forestry; conserves and enhances the environment; delivers benefits for people and nature; and supports Scottish Ministers in their stewardship of Scotland's national forests and land.
- Media enquiries to media@forestryandland.gov.scot