ROLLA, Mo.—The USDA Forest Service recently hosted unmanned aircraft system (UAS) training for 20 national forest resource managers from across the Eastern Region and parts of Alaska in Wisconsin.
Included in that training were a pair of pilots from Mark Twain National Forest. The newly trained pilots will provide additional capacity for the Forest to support many different types of Natural Resource Management missions. UAS operations are a safe, timely, and cost-effective avenue for the Forest Service to conduct missions with minimum risk exposure. Local use will include identifying hard to reach project areas, scouting wildfires, monitoring insect and disease outbreaks and monitoring trail conditions.
The Forest Service only uses trained and licensed remote UAS operators following FAA and other protocols. To meet the remote pilot certification for the Forest Service and to meet Federal Aviation Administration requirements, pilots must complete a course that features a mix of classroom and practical outdoor instruction where students train in pairs as pilots. The course focuses on specific skills for resource managers to fly management missions, including mapping training conducted by the Geospatial Technology and Application Center and missions in rough and rugged terrain with dynamic weather conditions.
These local graduates have the skills, knowledge and experience necessary to safely conduct resource management missions using UAS. They are part of a growing cadre of land managers using evolving technology to meet challenges in managing our nation’s forests. |