The drones which it uses to scatter seeds, Croatia is mobilizing in an effort to reforest remote forests that have been devastated by fires.
The tactic is not new, but as part of the project in Croatia, the seeds are dispersed in golf ball-sized containers, larger than those used elsewhere, and release ingredients that create a favorable environment for a seed to take root, say its creators. .
“Apart from an acorn, we also put in sand, grass, clay and dry red pepper”, says Goran Ladisic, one of the heads of the Magic Forest company that implements the program.
“It is important to put dry red pepper because that way the wild animals – in the case of an oak, the wild boar – will not eat the seeds,” the Athenian News Agency reports.
The forest fires, which occur in the summer in Croatia, often burn areas that are difficult to reach on foot, so air methods are needed, say project leaders. This week the Magic Forest scattered the balls with the seeds in the municipality of Promina, in the southern part of the country.
“We chose this innovative method because we had a lot of forest fires in our area“The last big one was in 2009, and what is growing now are just low bushes,” said Tihomir Budanko, the mayor of Promina.
More than 40% of the seeds that are scattered manage to take root
The project has been under development for more than two years. Ladisic said that in the tests, more than 40% of the seeds that were scattered managed to take root.
Ivan Vidakovic, who controls the drone flights, said that in eight hours, using four or five drones, the program could cover about 100 acres.
The idea is to do it reforestation an area with trees that are endemic to it and while the program has so far used only the seeds of different types of oak, it can have an effect with the seed of any tree.
Magic Forest says it has been in contact with partners in Ukraine, Bosnia, Montenegro, Austria and California with a view to developing its product there next year.
Innovative Croats also aim to participate in the European Union ‘s effort to an additional three billion trees will be planted by 2030 to combat climate change and biodiversity loss.

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