Migrating to Public Cloud Helps Scotland Better Manage Country’s Land and Natural Resources

In this Tech Barometer podcast, Nick Mahlitz, digital infrastructure manager at Forestry and Land Scotland, takes listeners to his homeland, where he helps the government use data and cloud technologies to manage natural resources and meet sustainability goals.

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Transcript:

Nick Mahlitz: I learn new things every day as I talk to our staff members. Just recently, we’re using drones with lasers to map out the land. So the drone footage stuff is really, really, really good. They can then tailor what they do with the land around what they found with these drones and with the lasers, they can go through forest layers, they can analyze the types of land that is, and oh, there’s a ridge there that we perhaps need to avoid, and just making better decisions.

Jason Lopez: We’re starting this podcast interview by parachuting right into the heart of the work of Forestry and Land Scotland, the federal organization that manages the country’s public land and wilderness. A year ago we talked with the manager of the organization’s data centers, Nick Mahlitz and posed the question:

Ken Kaplan: The forest needs technology?

Nick Mahlitz: Yes. The forests do, yes, to manage your forests well and good, to use technology in a challenging environment like Scotland, where it’s very remote and the weather can be quite extreme sometimes. Technology and exploring all realms of technology will only help us better manage Scotland’s forests and our land.

[Related: Forestry and Land Scotland Trailblazes Private-Public Shift to Cloud]

Jason Lopez: So, we circled back to follow up on that interview. Forestry and Land Scotland is utilizing technologies like drones with laser mapping capabilities. As we’ll learn, it gets very data intensive which is Nick’s job to oversee. He supports the organization’s mission to balance natural resources. One of those balancing acts is to better track wildlife, particularly deer, to protect young trees. 

Nick Mahlitz: Scotland has a lot of deer, so we have to cull a fair amount of them. And the challenges around Scotland being a very remote piece of land and identifying and culling enough deer in a small frame of time can be very challenging. So with technology of tagging deer and using drones to manage where they are, a ranger can go from culling a couple of deer and say half a day or a day to 8, 9, 10 deer within the same timeframe.

Jason Lopez: Scotland’s public land serves many interests. Trees enhance carbon sequestration. Some of its forests are grown for timber, and some of its land is used for renewable energy projects — such as wind and hydroelectric power. Scotland’s goal is to be net zero by 2045. One of the most important uses of the land is for the public’s enjoyment of the outdoors. He takes note: it’s good for people behind the scenes of his own organization to experience the places their work supports.

Nick Mahlitz: You know, I don’t want to be the person in the basement. You know, the data is there, but it’s also good out and enjoy it. And we try and do that. We encourage non-forester staff to go out with a forester for the day. Pick what you want to do. Do you want to go and see a piece of bog peatland be restored? Do you want to go and plant a tree? Do you want to go and uplift trees? You know, we offer these activities to people like myself or back office staff, HR procurement, except anybody who wants an interest in it, because it’s so important. If you understand that you’ll understand your role in the organization and how better you