From air to algorithm: How drones are training AI models for forest recovery

Forest Service pilots lift off an unmanned aircraft system shortly after sunrise, climbing above a burned area from the Cameron Peak Fire in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests & Pawnee National Grassland. From the ground, blackened trunks and downed timber dominate the view. From the air, large pockets of green from new growth become visible.

The Cameron Peak Fire started mid-August 2020 and burned through December of that year, scorching just over 200,000 acres in northern Colorado, which was the largest fire in Colorado history. Six years later, the Forest Service is using drones and artificial intelligence to measure how much of that land is coming back on its own, and where crews may still need to intervene.

“What we’re trying to do is better understand and measure natural seedling regeneration,” said Dr. Bill Monahan, a biological statistician with Forest Health Protection. “We use the data to determine if there is enough natural regeneration occurring, so we don’t need to do more intensive ground-based surveys and plantings.”