Friday’s Food for Thought: Mapping Trees

The fall season is upon us! Children have returned to school, the pumpkin spice latte is back, Halloween candy is in every supermarket, and leaves will soon turn colors.

SmokyMountains.com published an interactive prediction map to help travelers plan their trips around peak fall foliage. The map of the U.S. illustrates when leaves will begin to turn at a particular location. Use the map’s slider to see when your area or destination will be at peak between now and mid-November.

Mapping technologies are being used to predict the health of forests, reports Digital Trends. The Wageningen University in the Netherlands is studying satellite imagery to predict how climate will affect forestry. The researchers use a model to analyze tree coverage and determine how it changes in response to climatic events. The team hopes their model will help save forests, and their study is published in the Nature Climate Change journal.

DroneSeed aims to counter deforestation by planting trees using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). According to New Atlas, DroneSeed’s goal is to modernize the process of planting trees by employing squadrons of UAVs to plant seeds, spray for invasive species, and monitor tree growth. By leveraging UAVs to manage forests, the process becomes easier and quicker, especially for remote areas with potentially dangerous terrain. The company is currently undergoing a permission process and hopes to begin operations in the coming months.

Photo Credit: DroneSeed