The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry has authorised the awarding of four fixed-wing drones and maintenance parts for the production of orthophoto maps, for the amount of 168 thousand Euros, following the public tender launched by the Regional Directorate for Forest Resources with a view to strengthening of forest surveillance.
These are technologically sophisticated devices capable of carrying out scheduled, real-time, unmanned flights at higher altitudes, enabling the coverage of larger areas.
Besides monitoring private forest projects approved under PRORURAL+, João Ponte stated that drones are very important for the compliance with the ongoing works to update the Azores Forest Inventory.
The Forest Inventory, which began on São Miguel and will be extended to other islands, is a very important planning tool for the management and support of political decision-making in this sector.
"This document intends provide, for example, an in-depth knowledge of the existing species in the regional forest, namely its composition, volume and age," João Ponte stressed, adding that new technologies have been valuable for this and others works.
The Regional Directorate for Forest Resources has already photographed more than 45 percent of the São Miguel area, including the large forest stands of Nordeste and Povoação municipalities, the central zone and the Sete Cidades forest stand.
In terms of area covered, these works have already exceeded 34 thousand hectares on the islands of São Miguel, Terceira and Faial.
The fixed-wing drones used by the Regional Directorate for Forest Resources is of Swiss manufacture and is considered one of the devices of reference in the market for scientific or inventory purposes.