鈥淪eeing that immediate forest loss is what compelled us to do this.鈥�

That鈥檚 what Cameron Jones said about the change in his home area of Kelowna Mountain Park in the last few years.

Jones is one of the co-founders of Flash Forest. The company鈥檚 CEO Bryce Jones also hails from Kelowna, in the upper Mission, and co-founder Angelique Ahlstrom is from Nelson.

The three started a reforestation company last year. They modify industrial drones and mount an autonomously-controlled firing device that shoots and lodges the seed pods into the soil.

Cameron said the pods are designed so the seeds have what they need for the first nine months. This helps the seeds to germinate and take root quickly.

So far, the company has planted eight tree species in southern Ontario.

鈥淲e鈥檝e done white pine, white spruce, blue spruce, red maple, sugar maple, white birch and several others,鈥� Bryce said.

He added they鈥檙e now doing tests on some of the most harvested and the most common tree species in Canada, including two Brazilian tree species.

The trio said the point of Flash Forest is to revolutionize tree planting.

鈥淭he main issue we鈥檙e trying to address right now is deforestation, and because of that, there are other problems we鈥檙e now trying to solve,鈥� Ahlstrom said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 been a 60 per cent biodiversity loss in the last 50 years. Right now, there鈥檚 also only 15 per cent of the original forests in the world that are still intact. In addition, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate recommends one billion hectares of trees be planted to combat climate change.鈥�

鈥淎nd despite regeneration efforts, we鈥檙e still seeing a seven billion loss of trees every year. That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 very important that we do this quickly,鈥� she added.

鈥淚 also want to emphasize that reforestation doesn鈥檛 use technology. It鈥檚 just people on the ground with bags and shovels. There hasn鈥檛 been technological development and advancements in this area,鈥� Bryce said.

鈥淗owever, deforestation has state of the art technology where they can autonomously cut down trees and it鈥檚 been a continuous development and highly refined technology. So we鈥檙e coming in to tip the scales, to bring technology into regeneration efforts.鈥�

Flash Forest is now looking to partner with other companies and agencies to run pilot tests so they can bring their reforestation efforts to the rest of the country. Bryce said they鈥檝e picked up international interest, but they want to start at home first.

鈥淩ight now, we鈥檙e in talks to get pilot projects in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario for next year,鈥� he said. The group is also meeting with all levels of government to set up pilot projects, one of which will help the federal government meet its goal of planting two billion trees in the next ten years.

Currently, they鈥檙e fundraising to be able to buy more drones for planting and mapping soil conditions, and a pod automation machine so they can produce more pods.

鈥淥ur automation machine costs more than $10,000 and we鈥檙e entirely self-funded right now, so that鈥檚 why we have a Kickstarter. We鈥檝e been getting a lot of support but anything that people can contribute will help a lot,鈥� Cameron said.

To help Flash Forest fundraise, visit the .

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