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FF Commercial Pilots, AI-Enabled Site Selection, Demonstrations of Land (Disc-Trencher) and Air (Drone) Deployment Systems and BIological Technology in Alberta’s Boreal Forests (2025 – 2027)
Flash Forest aims to advance its drone-based tree planting technology by integrating AI-driven site selection software, incorporating land-based planting techniques, and diversifying tree species to enhance carbon sequestration. Informed by extensive collaboration with forestry experts and data analysis, Flash Forest has identified site and species selection as critical components of successful reforestation practices. To optimize…
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Linear Restoration Equipment Modernization and Deployment
Legacy oil and gas exploration sites commonly exhibit arrested succession and require restoration treatment to return to forest cover (Caners and Liefffers 2014; Iqbal et al. 2014, others). Linear restoration (or linear deactivation) is a topic of focused investigation with the objective of alleviating successional stagnation, restoring habitat and lessening forest fragmentation. Tree removal and…
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Flash Forest Commercial Pilots and Demonstrations of Rapid Drone Reforestation Technology for 2021 to 2023
Flash Forest utilizes drone reforestation technology comprised of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and hardware, aerial mapping software, automation, and biological seed pod technology to reforest areas at a rapid pace. Flash Forest’s mapping and telemetry technology, intakes current environmental conditions to ensure trees are planted uniformly and only where they can survive. The seed firing…
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Incorporating Wetland Carbon Values into Spatially Explicit Tools to Inform Land Use Decisions
Wetlands are some of the most productive ecosystems on the planet, and as a result store approximately 25 – 35 percent of the world’s terrestrial carbon. Their value as carbon sinks means it is important to determine the amount of carbon currently stored in remaining wetlands, and to be able to predict potential carbon losses…
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Identification of regionally appropriate grazing systems for the reduction of greenhouse gasses in Alberta, now and in the future
Investigating the Link Between Drought, Cattle Management and Soil Carbon This project studied the role of different cattle grazing systems in maximizing carbon storage and minimizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout Alberta’s grasslands. Funded through the Biological GHG Management Program in 2015, the project aimed to better understand how grazing affects carbon storage in grasslands…
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Artificial photosynthesis for managing industrially produced CO2 emissions
ERA has been interested in generating valuable products from CO2 emissions since we launched the Grand Challenge in 2013. If captured carbon dioxide can be converted to make useful and high-value products, it can create market interest that will accelerate technology development. Dr. Montemagno, one of the world’s leading experts in nanotechnology, has identified an…
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Tree Species Adaptation Risk Management
ERA provided $3 million to the Tree Species Adaptation Risk Management Project. The climate change adaptation project replicated climate variations through strategic plantings at test sites of species from other regions of the province (for example, planting northern species in southern Alberta). This knowledge is crucial to the province’s forest industry as well as the…
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Biodiversity Management and Climate Change Adaptation
This collaborative climate change adaptation project involves a team of biodiversity scientists and policy analysts from the University of Alberta; Miistakis Institute; Alberta Innovates Technology Futures; the Government of Alberta, and the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute. The team assessed hundreds of wild species, ranging from prairie flowers to backyard birds, to devise proactive strategies for…
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Improved construction of roads and pipelines to minimize impact on peatland greenhouse gas emissions
ERA often supports projects that help us to find a better way forward. That’s certainly the case with this project, one that may change the way we build roads and pipelines through peatlands. Northern peatlands form natural CO2 reduction systems known as carbon sinks. As vegetation and other life forms die, the bog absorbs them,…
