Selah Cliffs

We were contracted by Yakima County to spray the Selah Cliffs Natural Area Preserve, an area of 50-100ft vertical cliff bands containing the largest known population of Basalt Daisy. One plant that threatens this protected flower is Knapweed, and if not managed properly it could be a huge detriment to the precious environment the Basalt Daisies rely on. While much of the ____ was typically controlled by foot just below the cliffs, it was continually spreading from the inaccessible plants that resided on the cliff sides, creating a never-ending cycle of work. We were able to map out and identify the Knapweed and then returned for the daunting task of actually treating the target invasives. With such a steep angle a great deal of precision is required from our pilots as this type of job cannot be run on auto. Luckily, we have the talented pilots at hand who were able to treat all of the Knapweed, and we all came out unscathed!

A view of the cliff bands sitting behind the bridge

We identified roughly 1.8 acres of treatable land, meaning within the 4 acres our client had outlined we identified Knapweed groupings in just 1.8 acres of that area. This cut back significantly on the quantity of resources needed and the sub centimeter accuracy of our vegetation mapping insured that we were only treating the Knapweed.

This project was completed in two days. The first day for mapping out the cliffs and identifying the target areas to spray and then on the second day we completed treatment. It took roughly 1 hour and 10 mins of active spraying time, or time that the drone was air borne.

One of our lead pilots getting set up to launch

Overall, this was a very successful project where we were able to explore some of the potential limitations of drones. We are very happy to say we didn’t find those limitations here and we look forward to continuing to explore the various ways drones can help aid vegetation management in future projects.