Scientists Are Using Drones to Combat a Fungus Wiping Out Hawaii’s Sacred Trees
A fleet of drones with built-in saws could be the future of forestry
In early September, a drone flew over the Waiakea Forest Reserve on Hawaii’s Big Island. It slowed its pace, lowered itself to a hover just feet from the canopy, and readied a device attached to its undercarriage. Two plastic “arms” rotated gently, grabbed a small branch, and, using a built-in saw, chopped it off. Having collected the sample, the drone flew away.
This could be the future of forestry. The operation, conducted by Ryan Perroy, a geographer at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, is part of a rescue mission to save a special tree — the sacred ʻŌhiʻa (pronounced “oh-HEE-ah”) that blankets Hawaii’s islands. For many Hawaiians, the ʻŌhiʻa is a symbol of nature, an ecological backbone, and the very essence of the forest. But the trees are under attack.
“It really is probably the most devastating thing I’ve worked on in my career.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service, the USDA Forest Service, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa first identified a tree-killing fungus on Hawaii Island back in 2014. Last year, researchers from the…
