EFE.- Planting tree seeds with drones in Australia, whose forests were burned by disaster 2019-20 Wildfire, Is part of a pilot program Restore cola habitats Save it from destruction.
This is the Global Fund for Nature (WWF Australia) project Wants to plant 100,000 trees in three years, Which will begin with the launch of the drone next April or May, when the rains end this summer due to the La Nina event, explained Stuart Blanche, restoration manager for the charity.
Drones A maximum of 40,000 seeds can be released per dayIf successful, it could open the door to the most ambitious WWF Australia project: Save 2 billion trees by 2030.
The WWF is still studying If deforested using capsules containing multiple mixed seeds With artificial soil and compost, or thrown in bulk on different surfaces, it is difficult to bend and access, weighing both cost and germination opportunities.
“We want to see if drones are better at restoring Cola habitats. In the future, if they work occasionally, they could spread millions of seeds across eastern Australia to recover from fire and drought, but We must first prove that they workSaid Blanche.
Read: Thousands of Dangerous Freshwater Fish Species: WWF
After the fire in Australia, the biggest damage
Australia’s reconstruction has been badly affected by what is known as the Dream Fire 2019-20 “Black Summer”, Which killed 34 people and It covered more than 5,000 buildings and 186,000 kilometers Square land, an area similar to Syria and 70% of which is forest.
The fire, considered one of the longest and most damaging in Australia, burned or damaged about 7 billion trees and killed 3 billion animals. 60,000 colas, perishing in flames Or, after fleeing, they will be injured or homeless.
A year before the disaster, The WWF has already warned that colas will disappear in New Wales before 2050 With deforestation from the south, it is also active in the neighboring state of Queensland, which is considered vulnerable.
Paradoxically, New South Wales and Queensland “have the best chance of preserving colas because they have good genetic diversity,” Blanche said.
Against the clock
In order to save them, the WWF is fighting against time to create safe corridors in the habitats of these marsupials. Planting trees is not enough But even Make sure they grow well enough.
That is, One eucalyptus said, “To be the best habitat for a cola, it usually has to be 37 centimeters in diameter. This means you may have 20 or 30 years old ”, WWF Australia Representative explained.
But Blanche believes he did not wait long to see “colas in five-meter-tall and about two- or three-year-old trees”, although “these are not ideal habitats because they are not tall. .
To the WWF expert, Ideally, Australia should be allowed to recreate its forests naturally, As well as the destruction of cola habitats should be stopped by legislation and an end to felling of trees, which, among other measures, adds incentives for farmers to designate protected areas.
Blanche also suggested improving traditional tribal practices, which include creating controlled and low-intensity fires in forests that are not affected by fires because “eucalyptus seeds often germinate after a fire.”
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