Alaska News

Fairbanks scientists plan to use drones to study wildlife

Could it be only a matter of time before wildlife biologists can do nearly all their work from behind a desk? Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are working in that direction. They've begun evaluating how unmanned aircraft -- what are commonly called drones -- can be used to monitor and track wildlife. The program is still in its infancy, and the Fairbanks Daily News Miner reports there are problems, most notably high costs and foul-weather limitations on flight.

But a 14-pound AeroVironment Puma AE, an unmanned aircraft usually used by the military for surveillance, has proven it can be flown from a fishing boat in the Bering Sea to monitor sea lion rookeries at low altitude without disturbing the animals. Researchers said the main problem with the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) came in bad weather.

"Its issue was wind sensitivity," Greg Walker told the News-Miner. "It doesn't like to fly in gusty weather." You can watch the Puma AE in operation.

Federal biologists have so far taken the lead in using UAVs for wildlife research, but the aircraft would seem to have significant applicability for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game which conducts aerial surveys of wildlife all across the state. Those surveys are costly to do with manned aircraft and potentially deadly.

Independent biologist Gordon Haber was conducting aerial observations of wolves in Denali National Park and Preserve two years ago when he died in a plane crash there.

Haber was a committed protector of Alaska wolves, but there are others in the state who have tried to limit the numbers of the wild canines to help caribou and moose, and they can't help but be tempted by the all-weather capabilities of armed drones such as those the U.S. has used to hunt terrorists with deadly efficiency in Pakistan.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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