The N.C. Department of Transportation\u2019s Division of Aviation\nand its Environmental Analysis Unit have teamed up to fight invasive plants\nwith a new tool: drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The area around Bodie Island Lighthouse was overrun with\nPhragmites, a type of aggressive, non-native marsh grass that pushes out all\nnative species. NCDOT was responsible for combating the invasive plant as part\nof its environmental mitigation for the construction of the new Basnight Bridge\nover Oregon Inlet. The NCDOT Environmental Analysis Unit turned to the Division\nof Aviation to help explore the use of drones as an alternative to traditional\nairplane- or helicopter-based herbicide spraying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The project, which recently wrapped up for the 2019 season,\nfound that drones provide a more targeted and efficient spray operation than\ntraditional methods. Drones use less of the herbicidal spray, as they can be\nprogrammed to target a specific area and flown safely at low altitudes to\nreduce the amount of herbicide blown away by wind. They can also be outfitted\nwith cameras that allow officials to monitor areas without having to step\nthrough potentially dangerous terrain or disturbing other plant and animal\nlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe drone has minimal impact on the surrounding area,\u201d said\nMorgan Weatherford, environmental modeling team lead with the NCDOT\nEnvironmental Analysis Unit. \u201cIt was easier to avoid harming native species,\nbetter targeted, and quick to mobilize – great for somewhere with unpredictable\nweather like on the Outer Banks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Drones are also safer and more cost effective than manned\naircraft for these types of operations because they eliminate the need for\nplane and helicopter pilots to fly low while applying the herbicide.\nAdditionally, in the case of popular tourist sites like Bodie Island Lighthouse,\nthe area doesn\u2019t need to be closed to the public while operations are taking\nplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis was a one-of-a-kind partnership, and the first time a\ndrone had ever been used for herbicide spraying on National Park Service land,\u201d\nadded Weatherford. \u201cWe plan to continue and expand our drone program in the\nfuture.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The N.C. Department of Transportation\u2019s Division of Aviation and its Environmental Analysis Unit have teamed up to fight invasive plants with a new tool: drones. The area around Bodie Island Lighthouse was overrun with Phragmites, a type of aggressive, non-native marsh grass that pushes out all native species. NCDOT was responsible for combating the invasive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-north-carolina","category-unmanned-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/NC-Spraying-Opedit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13935,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13933\/revisions\/13935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}