Spotted: In the US, approximately seven million acres of land are burned by wildfires each year, and global warming is increasing the risk of very large fires. At the same time, not enough resources are being allocated to reforesting the areas that are lost to the flames, and there is an overall lack of seeds, nursery capacity, planting capacity, and funding. Mast Reforestation is tackling all of these issues with a first-of-its-kind innovation in carbon financing.
Woolsey McKernon, who is the Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Capital Markets at Mast Reforestation, explained to Springwise that the startup is “the only vertically integrated reforestation company that combines cutting-edge technology and traditional forestry practices to restore forests lost from wildfire, funded through the sale of carbon credits.”
Through its subsidiaries Silvaseed and Cal Forest Nurseries, Mast manages the majority of tree seed supplies and seedlings in the western 11 states of the US, effectively streamlining the forestry supply chain for over 30 million seedlings. Mast’s end-to-end solution provides everything from cone collection and satellite mapping of a burnt area to carbon credit financing, making it possible to significantly scale reforestation efforts.
McKernon told Springwise that the company is currently focused on the sale and deployment of its reforestation-based carbon removal credits, which enables the company to pay for reforestation and generate a financial return for landowners. Over the next three years, Mast hopes to create thousands of jobs and plant millions of trees.
Forests have been called the “lungs of the planet”, but there is growing concern about their rate of loss. This has spawned a number of innovations, including the use of satellites to prevent wildfires and a programme that pays people to plant and maintain trees.
Spotted: As the world continues to break global temperature records and conditions get drier, wildfires are increasing in frequency, severity, and duration. In 2023 alone, there have been almost 50,000 fires, burning 2.57 million acres of vegetation. Wildfires wreak havoc on communities, environments, and the economy, and one company is working to suppress catastrophic fires through automation.
Rain is the only autonomous technology developed to rapidly suppress wildfires during the first ten minutes of ignition, helping fire agencies more quickly, safely, and effectively contain them before they grow out of control. Its founders, Max and Ephraim, have personal experience with wildfires, having lived in the interior of British Columbia when the Okanagan Mountain Park Firestorm in 2003 caused the largest mass evacuations since WWII.
The company adapts existing military and civil autonomous aircraft with the intelligence to perceive, understand, and suppress wildfires. This technology then enables these aircraft to be prepositioned in remote locations where the risk of fire is high, resulting in increased response times.
The Rain Wildfire Mission Autonomy System uses software that integrates with aircraft autonomy systems and includes components for wildfire mission management, fire perception, path planning, suppression strategy, and suppressant targeting. The system also has infrared and visual spectrum cameras, inertial navigation, GPS and other sensors, and automated suppressant deployment equipment.
Rain plans to collaborate with Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company, to demonstrate how an uncrewed BLACK HAWK helicopter with Rain’s Wildfire Mission Autonomy System could respond rapidly to suppress incipient wildfires.
As we witness more wildfires by the year, Springwise has spotted many ways to manage and mitigate its devastation. A Berlin-based startup created a sensor that uses AI to detect ultra-early wildfires, while Mitiga is using physics and AI to assess risk in real-time up to 100 years into the future.
Wildfires have long been a persistent threat in certain parts of the world. But until recently, most people would associate them with regions such as California and Australia. In 2022, however, the news cycle has been filled with stories of wildfires in parts of the world that are less used to dealing with them. In the EU, forest fires have burned a record 700,000 hectares, with Spain, Romania, France, and Italy the countries most affected. In fact, 2022 is already a record year for wildfires in Southwestern Europe. Meanwhile, in China, emergency responders are battling blazes around the city of Chongqing.
Studies are linking increasing levels of fire risk in Europe with climate change. And ‘traditional’ fire regions are also facing more intense fire seasons. The worst recorded fire season in the recorded history of New South Wales, Australia, was in 2019/2020, and California’s worst fire season was also in 2020.
With climate change exacerbating wildfires across the globe, innovators are developing solutions to mitigate their impact. Here are five of the best.
ROBOT FOREST RANGERS PLANT TREES, CLEAR PATHS AND GATHER DATA
Rikko, Chunk, and Dixon are three ‘Forest Ranger Druids’ created by industrial design student Segev Kaspi. Currently in the concept stage, each of the robots has a specific set of tasks and skills. The idea is to deploy teams of the robot forest rangers across many kilometres of forest, for regular maintenance as well as in emergency situations. Finding the source of a new forest fire, for example, could help firefighters act faster to contain a dangerous situation. Read more
THE WORLD’S LARGEST REAL-TIME MONITORING NETWORK FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS
Australian technology firm Attentis has developed a network of intelligent sensors that provide local officials and emergency response teams with data that can be used to improve responses to climate change impacts – such as floods and bushfires. The sensors are powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning from analytics company SAS, and are capable of automatically detecting and responding to changes in their surroundings. Attentis has used the sensors to create an integrated, high-speed network. Named the Latrobe Valley Information Network (LVIN), it is the world’s largest real-time environmental monitoring network. Read more
NEW DRILLING MACHINE QUICKLY AND ECONOMICALLY CUTS THROUGH THE HARDEST ROCKS IN THE WORLD
San Francisco-based company Petra has successfully completed a 20-foot demonstration tunnel through the Earth’s hardest rock. The company’s semi-autonomous drilling machine, named Swifty, is able to cut through hard bedrock that would destroy normal drilling equipment. Swifty was designed to make underground utility lines more economically viable given that above-ground power lines have contributed to a succession of Californian wildfires. Read more
AI MAPPING TOOL HELPS CALIFORNIA FIREFIGHTERS TRACK BURN RISK
More than three million acres of land burned in California during the 2020 fire season. As climate change continues to have an impact on the natural ebb and flow of the area’s fires, The California Forest Observatory is using AI satellite imaging combined with detailed laser scanning to monitor the current risk of forest wildfires. Previously, most satellite data was up to three years old. The combined data provides detail down to the level of individual trees and allows firefighting teams to observe vegetation growth while tracking current weather conditions. Read more
Fighting wildfires usually involves the use of heavy equipment and dangerous flights. Drones could be the answer Most electric drones currently in use can only fly for around fifteen minutes when carrying payloads, while gas-powered drones can fly for longer, but can’t carry heavy cargo. Parallel Flight Technologies is hoping to change this by developing commercial drones capable of carrying equipment heavy enough to help firefighters. Read more
Curated by: Matthew Hempstead
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