CropCam Featured in Natural World Film Series
May 26, 2009
When communism crumbled in 1989 it created an opportunity for wildlife. The Iron Curtain that divided communist Eastern Europe from the capitalist West had created a no-man's land protected by barbed wire and minefields.
The film entitled, “Iron Curtain, Ribbon of Life”, is part of the series Natural World produced by Free Spirit Films in Britain. The film tells the story of the movement, led by Biologist Dr Kai Frobel that set out to save the wildlife of this precious strip. As the world celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain it can also celebrate the birth of the biggest conservation movement in the world. The ribbon of life stretches 13,000 kilometers across Europe, protecting everything from bears and wolverines in Finland to rare Eagles in Bulgaria.
Working with Dr. Frobel is Alpo Hassisnen a research scientist at the University of Joensuu in Finland. One of the challenges of this preserved strip of wildlife precious was how to check when there is so much forbidden area? Enter CropCam a small UAV designed by MicroPilot. The CropCam is radio control electric glider plane equipped with a MicroPilot autopilot, Pentax digital camera and pre-programmed ground control software. Hand launched, the CropCam takes a series of high resolution images of the forest, valleys and water below.
The CropCam flew over Finland and Russia. The images were carefully analyzed by Finnish and Russian Conservationist. Dr. Frobel stated:
The CropCam was valuable in gathering images that were used to plan nature reserves to best protect the rarest species.
CropCam is an example of how a good idea can unite former enemies to protect a last haven for many rare animals and plants in this ribbon of life.
