Drone Swarms Plant Tree Seeds After Forest Fires

A startup’s heavy-lift drone swarms have been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration in the USA to take part in the reforestation efforts in California, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.

“Our team is highly motivated to help communities begin the process of restoring the forests we lost, make sure they come back, and evolve new tools to make reforestation scalable,” says Grant Canary, CEO of DroneSeed, the only company in the United States legally approved to operate with heavy-lift drone swarms. “It’s imperative if we’re to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.”

A swarm can have up to five aircraft where each drone carries a 26 kg payload, including native Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine seeds. DroneSeed has the capability to reforest an area within 60 days after a wildfire. The startup also offers interesting forest owners carbon credit sales for the post-fire reforestation, thus reducing the costs.