Canadian Company Aims to Plant 1 Billion Trees with Drones

A Canadian company is pledging to plant one billion trees by 2028 with the use of drones.

Flash Forest, which calls itself a “Canadian drone reforestation company,” started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money and accomplish their goal of planting trees with drones.

The team is in the early stages of creating nutrient-packed pods that contain pre-germinated seeds, mycorrhizae, fertilizers, and their “secret sauce.” The pods will ensure that the trees are already sprouted before they’re placed in the ground, giving them a better chance of growing and thriving.

Their plan is to use drones to shoot the pods in areas that have suffered from deforestation. They say they’ll be planting at least eight different species in an area to ensure a healthy ecosystem.

The company was founded in January 2019 and performed a test of 3,000 pods in southern Ontario. Flash Forest says their kickstarter will help with the costs of developing their pods, purchase of drones, and other additional expenses.

“We started flash forest with the goal of offsetting carbon emissions enough to have a significant and measurable impact on climate change within the next decade,” Flash Forest writes on their Kickstarter. “We work closely with botanists and forestry experts, and use multispectral mapping UAV technology to select ideal planting sites and provide valuable follow up data on ecosystem health.”

With the use of drones, Flash Forest says they can plant trees at a more efficient rate than typical planting. They also say their pods have less of an environmental impact because they don’t require the same amount of water.

The team has started testing in Ontario but plans to expand to Alberta and Brazil next. Their hope is to plant 1 billion pods by 2028.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated the company planted 100 pods in Southern Ontario, but the correct amount is 3,000 pods. We regret the error.