RANCHI: Drones are being used by the forest department in Jharkhand for better documentation related to forest growth for submission to the Forest Survey of India, which carries inventory in forest and non-forest areas and develops a database on forest tree areas.
In addition to that, it is also used for keeping an eye on the movement of wild elephants and checking forest fires, which is a frequent phenomenon in summers. “We are using drones for technology up-gradation so that it could be used for monitoring and other purposes as per the requirement,” said Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Development AK Singh. Divisional Forest Officers also asserted that it is being used for surveillance of forests and monitoring of plantations done by them and various other purposes.
“Drones are being used for surveillance of plantation areas as we can keep an eye on it very easily by using it. We can see through the aerial snapshots and video footage taken through drones, where we need to do more work, where it requires more efforts to ensure soil moisture conservation etc,” said DFO Jamshedpur Mamta Priyadarshi. They are also using it for forest fires they can make it from a distance where there is an outbreak of fire in the forest, which enables them further to take measures to check it, she added.
According to the Priyadarshi, snapshots taken from drone also gives them an idea of how far the fire has spread and also helps them to determine where the forest fire line has to be cut in order to control it in an effective way. DFO Gumla on the other hand said that drone is a great planning tool and has proved to be their eyes in the air, as it is used to examine forest landscapes, which is not possible manually.
Secondly, through the snapshots taken through drones, they have been able to present the work done by them. “Otherwise, it was difficult to show our efficiency through still photographs which cover a small area, but now through the snapshots and video footage taken by drones, it has become very easy for us to show our efficiency,” said the Gumla DFO Shrikant Verma.
Moreover, drones have also proved to be helpful in monitoring the legal mining done in the forest areas and checking illegal mining, he added. “Drones help us in monitoring the actual reclamation done by the mining companies after mining is completed in particular areas, which otherwise was not possible,” said the Verma.
“Drones have proved to be a great help in the planning of forestation and monitoring after the plantation is done in larger areas. Snapshots and video footage taken by drones also help us in planning and management of the forest areas,” said the Gumla DFO, who is also in charge of Ranchi DFO. Most importantly, the movement of wild elephants is also monitored through drones so that the villagers living in those areas could be alerted and moved to safer places, he added.