Drone

Drone Video - Climbing Big Lonely Doug: Round 2

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Today I'm excited to have launched a new video which I filmed and edited featuring the Ancient Forest Alliance and Arboreal Collective's second climb up Big Lonely Doug, Canada's 2nd largest Douglas-fir tree! Doug has become the educational mascot of BC’s endangered old-growth forests - his massive size highlights their grandeur, while the dramatic contrast of the surrounding clearcut highlights the threat to them posed by industrial logging. The drone footage, captured using the DJI Phantom 3 Pro, of tree climbers (thanks to Matthew, Aaron, and Elliot!) in this sobering setting will help us raise the public awareness needed to pressure the BC government to protect what remains of the adjacent Eden Grove and endangered old-growth forests across British Columbia, and to ensure a sustainable second-growth forest industry instead.

Press: Tall trees turning Port Renfrew into tourist hot spot

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Earlier this week I toured the Port Renfrew region with CHEK News for a video about how old-growth forest tourism at the Avatar Grove, Big Lonely Doug, and other nearby ancient stands has transformed the local economy. Dan Hager, the Chamber of Commerce president, speaks up for a Tall Tree tourism economy, while Ken Wu and myself speak about the importance of saving the remaining old-growth forests. The news clip also features some of my drone footage from the Walbran Valley!

See video here: http://www.cheknews.ca/tall-tree-turning-port-renfrew-into-tourist-hot-spot-143533/

Press: Using Drones for Conservation - Front Cover

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The story of how we're using drone technology to help raise awareness of endangered old-growth forests in the Central Walbran Valley landed on the front cover of The Province newspaper this week! You can read the full story featured on the inside page here: www.theprovince.com/technology/anti+logging+activists+using+drones+fight+information/11394855/story.html  and watch the YouTube clip I filmed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyMPXHOjlK0

Video: Drone's Used to Help with Ancient Forest Campaigns

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Earlier this year I picked up a DJI Phantom 2 drone to use with the Ancient Forest Alliance and our campaigns to protect endangered old-growth forests in BC. The Phantom allows us to explore and document areas that were essentially impossible to reach before. Now we can fly hundreds of meters over the tops of trees to examine new, at-risk areas or carefully work from the forest floor up to the canopy, showcasing the incredible beauty and complex structure of these ancient ecosystems. For me, it's the closest thing to a flying dream where you can float throughout the woods, going whichever way you may choose. However, flying the Phantom is a little more nerve-wracking ;) The Zenmuse H3-3D gimbal is paired with a GoPro Hero 4 Black to capture the best images possible. I'm still in the early stages of flying in this challenging environment but I'm confident the clips we gather will only improve with time and become evermore useful to the cause. So for now, check out the first video I've put together which highlights the imminently endangered Central Walbran Ancient Forest on Vancouver Island. *Be sure to watch at 1080p HD **Additional ground footage shot with the 5DMKII ***Read our detailed press release here.