Drones fly over Boulder to advance early emerald ash borer detection

Team flies 'birds' at three locations in test of technology's effectiveness

By Charlie Brennan
Staff Writer

POSTED:   07/13/2017 06:42:31 PM MDT

Drones may be a key tool to the future of battling emerald ash borer and other blights that can impact the urban forest, and that buzzing some might have heard in southeast Boulder on Thursday was the sound of a team setting out to prove just that.

From three separate locations south of Baseline Road and east of Foothills Parkway, a group of scientists and researchers sent drones as high as 335 feet over areas including ash trees showing varying levels of damage from the emerald ash borer, a invasive green jewel beetle that feeds on the ash tree species.

"What we're really interested in is early detection," said Dan Staley, principal of Arbor Drone, a consulting firm based in Aurora specializing in aerial urban forestry. "The very first indicators of emerald ash borer is what we're trying to show."

The squad taking to the streets of Boulder included Staley; his 14-year-old daughter (and "mapper"), Payne Jungblut; Loren Anderson and Tim Haynie, chief of operations and CEO and founder, respectively, of Colorado Springs-based Spectrabotics, a data analytics firm; and Darren Ceckanowicz, technical director for the environmental program at Colorado College.

READ MORE at the Boulder Daily Camera...

Drones are joining the fight against the emerald ash borer

Noel Brennan, KUSA 7:06 PM. MDT July 13, 2017

Drones are taking flight and joining the fight against the emerald ash borer in Colorado.

The EAB is tiny, but the insect is responsible for the death of millions of ash trees across 27 states.

“If you catch trees in early stages of infestation you can often save that tree,” said Dan Staley.

He's an urban forester leading an effort to save ash trees in Colorado. He heads up Arbor Drone LLC.

“We’re taking techniques that are used in precision agriculture right now and adapting them to the urban forest,” he said.

Staley is partnering with researchers from Colorado College and a Colorado Springs-based startup called Spectrabotics to collect and study data using drones. On Thursday, the group launched drones equipped with multispectral cameras over a park in Boulder. The cameras capture light in both the visible and infrared spectrum.

READ and WATCH at Denver Channel 9...

New project to use drones for Emerald Ash Borer research in Boulder

6:19 AM, Jul 13, 2017

BOULDER, colo - A new project is coming to Boulder to study ash trees from above.

Arbor Drone LLC, Spectrabotics LLC, and researchers from Colorado College will collect data using drone flights over southwest Boulder this week to study trees affected by Emerald Ash Borer.

Drone LLC says the main purpose of the Boulder drone flights is to use a multispectral sensor to study the light reflectance of ash trees attacked by EAB. The high-resolution sensor collects light in both the visible and infrared spectrum to study plant health.

Researchers say understanding how trees react when attacked by EAB will help urban forest managers to follow the disease and to manage pests in real time...

READ MORE on Denver ABC Channel 7