Lauchlan Fraser

Increased wildfire activity in BC has amplified the demand for safer, more effective recovery methods. Innovating approaches to tree planting and post-wildfire reclamation is vital for the future of BC’s landscape. “We’re trying to regrow forests quickly while also experiencing one of the greatest threats currently known, which is climate change,” says Dr. Lauchlan Fraser, core researcher at TRU’s Institute for Wildfire Science, Adaptation and Resiliency, professor in the department of Natural Resource Science and NSERC Industrial Research Chair in ecosystem reclamation. Fraser’s current research project focuses on optimizing tree seedpod performance to quickly restore ecosystems disturbed by wildfire. …The research is still underway, but the benefits of using drone technology in wildfire reclamation could be game changing with respect to recovery speed and safety. …Benefits also include gaining access to remote areas that otherwise may never be replanted.