Thermal Imaging Helps Locate Animals Threatened By Timber Harvests

A forestry company in Australia is using drones equipped with thermal imaging technology to help spot koalas that might be living in trees slated for harvesting.

Hazelwood Forestry based in Latrobe Valley in the state of Victoria uses the aircraft to look for the animals every day before trees are harvested. Eloise Cluning, who operates the company with her husband Russell, said that they capture and relocate the koalas under a government permit during a recent talk on how drones are used in forestry at an Institute of Foresters of Australia seminar, according to a report in the Latrobe Valley Express newspaper.

Cluning said that if the koalas are not found and moved, they can be injured or killed when the trees are felled and processed. She said that koalas are unable to jump out of the trees when they are cut down.

The area where Hazelwood Forestry works has a large number of pine and gum trees. Cluning said that the animals are fairly easy to spot in the gum trees, but the pine canopy is very dense and makes them difficult to see during manual spotting. "The drones have helped in that regard," she said.

Cluning said that every heat signature that is noted needs to be investigated, as they all look the same. She added that weather can be an issue flying the drone, and eagles are a particular threat. "One eagle actually threw the drone into a tree. Eagles were circling as we retrieved the drone," she said.

(Images from Hazelwood Forestry Facebook page)

FMI: Original report