Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2018-2019)

The spruce bark beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) is a destructive pest in the forests of western North America.x000D
The beetle kills large spruce trees by feeding on the inner bark, disrupting the phloem of the tree, and vectoringx000D
a blue stain fungus into the sapwood. Spruce beetle populations are rapidly increasing in northern Britishx000D
Columbia, and currently infest 156,000 hectares of timber in this region.x000D
Terrestrial Information Services and the College of New Caledonia are collaborating on a project to researchx000D
and develop a computer-based method that analyzes high-resolution aerial images of forests and predictsx000D
tree-level bark beetle attack for the entire area. This approach will introduce several important innovations tox000D
the forest sector: (i) bark beetle survey costs could be reduced by collecting images using unmanned aerialx000D
vehicles (UAV) and analyzing the images post-collection with this new approach, and (ii) bark beetlex000D
infestation rates would be predicted for entire areas, which will improve forest management and bark beetlex000D
sanitation operations (iii) the UAV approach offers numerous advantages over traditional small-scale highx000D
definition fixed wing aerial photography such as delivery in near real time and at any scale.x000D
Students in the College's Natural Resources and Environmental Technology program will be involved in thisx000D
project, and will develop valuable skills in emerging technologies to manage forest health factors in BC'sx000D
forests.