Registered Professional Forester Calvin Lee’s passion is applying technology to make forestry more efficient and environmentally sound. Working with Teal Jones’ Pitt Lake operations since gaining his designation in mid-2021, Calvin has pioneered the company’s use of drones with video and photo capabilities to help with engineering cutblocks and roads, map waterways, and monitor silviculture treatments. A recent internal and external audit of the first year of work showed positive results. Using drones, Calvin can map out multiple cutblocks in a day rather than the one that can be done on foot from the ground, and produce a better, more accurate map in 3D. That map is digital, so can be shared with colleagues and regulators in the office, allowing for detailed perspectives on slopes, roads, waterways, trees, and other key data points. Based in part on Calvin’s work, the company’s adopting a new standard approach to monitoring cutblocks post-harvest – every couple of years, taking a 360-degree view of the block with an aerial drone. That allows them to showcase the area from the same point every time and compare what they see to previous maps – identifying any issues that need addressing and monitoring how trees are growing. Currently, Calvin is testing the use of drones in other aspect of their day to day operations, in ways that can help minimize cost and increase in efficiency, such as using drones for bridge inspections.