Air Force drops ‘Seed Bombs’ over Lahugala Forest
November 01, 2019Taking reforestations to new ‘heights’, the Sri Lanka Air Force, in collaboration with Sri Lanka Forest Department, MAS Holdings and the University of Peradeniya launched the second seed bombing programme in the Lahugala forest in Ampara during the beginning of this week.
According to Air Force media, the programme had been launched to achieve the aim of increasing the green cover of the country.
The first seed bombing operation was carried out targeting a five-acre block at the Ranorawa forest. approximately 5,000 seed bombs containing seeds of valuable species of trees were dropped from a specially modified SLAF MI-17 Helicopter.
The subsequent droppings saw 67,000 seed bombs over the Lahugala forest, in Ampara. A SLAF MI-17 helicopter after taking off from the SLAF Station Ampara successfully dropped its ‘seed’ cargo over the forest area.
The targeted location within the forest is only accessibly by air. The sourcing of seeds was done by the Sri Lanka Forest Department. The seed bombs were made containing seeds of native trees including Aralu (Terminalia chebula), Kon (Schleichera oleosa), Gal Siyambala (Dialium ovoideum), Siyambala (Tamarindus indica), Goda Kirilla (Holoptelea integrifolia), and Maila (Bauhinia racemosa) most suited to the dry zone.
