01/23/2026
🌲 CASE STUDY: Aerial Pine Seeding for Forest Restoration 🚁
Precision Forestry in Northwestern Ontario
With catastrophic wildfires affecting forests across Canada, the United States, and Australia, forest protection and restoration have become critical priorities. Millions of hectares have been lost, along with wildlife habitat, homes, and vital ecosystems. Reforestation plays a key role in restoring ecological balance, and aerial application has proven to be one of the most effective methods for large-scale forest management.
In early 2019, an aerial operator was awarded a contract to seed 1,164 hectares (4,657 acres) of pine forest in Northwestern Ontario. Planning began in March, with seeding completed in April.
The Challenge
The project required an extremely low application rate of only 75 to 125 grams of seed per hectare. Traditional gravity-fed systems rely on fixed or***ce plates that must be recalibrated every time the rate changes and assume a constant aircraft speed. In real-world conditions, wind and terrain make this difficult, leading to inconsistent application.
Additional challenges included:
• No real-time measurement of seed output during flight
• Seed flow changing as hopper levels dropped
• Limited control when flying over canopy with unclear boundaries
At these low rates, even small variations could result in significant errors.
The Solution
To improve accuracy and control, a granular flow control system was adapted for pine seeding. While commonly used for mosquito control, the system required extensive modification to handle ultra-low seed rates.
Improvements included:
• Redesigning the impeller to reduce seed output per rotation
• Increasing motor resolution for smoother low-speed operation
• Fine tuning control algorithms for stable performance at low RPM
• Updating guidance software to allow application rates to be entered and displayed in grams
• Enabling automatic on and off control at treatment boundaries
These changes allowed seed flow to automatically adjust based on aircraft speed, ensuring consistent application across the entire treatment area.
Field Performance
The system was installed on dual granular tanks and ca
