Scientists are currently working on a plan that will help re-plant trees in large areas in faster amounts of time. One scientist, Dr. Mark Hodges, had an idea to build some type of canister full of soil and little seeds and drop them out of a plane.

They decided to use a canister that was rather cheap and accessible anywhere. So they got to work on a design. After awhile they came up with a net prototype. They took a little section of net and placed the dirt and the seed and tied all corners together at the top. Then coated it with wax to hold while it was dropped. As soon as a design was found, they decided to test how it would work, if the canister didn’t land right at the bottom it could damage the seed defeating the purpose of the operation. After a couple trials they decided the canister was too erratic while dropping and they had no idea if it would land where needed. Finally one of the people working on the operation decided to tie a ribbon across the bottom and then around the top tie causing it to drop straight down.

Now they had to figure out what to use for the drop itself. To have a successful rain forest, the trees needed to be planted at least 4 feet apart. They tried a firefighter net first, used to drop emergent on fires. The net distributed the seeds perfectly, but when they decided to actually plant all the trees the canisters clumped together and wouldn’t fit through the hole in the bottom, another failure. So they tried another net, one that was used by farmers to spread hay across their fields. This time the trial was a success, all of the canisters dropped perfectly but they where still to close. But no problem Basil decided that if they go higher up into the air and drop them then they should land perfectly, and they did.

After 3 months of waiting, they returned to the area where they had planted the trees to see if it was successful. Unfortunately something had gone wrong with the plant itself. It didn’t drain water so the plant stayed wet to long or it wasn’t getting enough nutrients. But still, in a way, they had succeeded- they had built a cheap, accessible, canister, had a net to distribute them, and distributed them perfectly.

So now we just have to wait and see what the future will hold. If they can succeed with aerial planting then we can speed up the process of reversing deforestation. Plus if the trees thrive and grow into a successful rainforest then they will eventually get rid of 13% of Co2 each year, ultimately slowing down global warming.

To see more about aerial replanting visit http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/project-earth/timelines/reforestation.html for a complete timeline, description, and pictures of the operation that could eventually change the world.