Seed 21 acres an hour.

Challenge

A late-summer wildfire burned ~285 acres of mixed mountain shrub, aspen, and open sage on a private ranch inholding, leaving moderate-to-high soil burn severity on slopes up to 55% with hydrophobic south aspects. The BAER-equivalent assessment called for native seed on the ground before the first significant monsoon event — a 3–4 week window. Ground access ended two miles below the lower edge of the scar. A helicopter contractor quoted $62/acre plus $4,500 mobilization with a three-week lead time.

MWDS Solution

MWDS mobilized a single heavy-lift seeding drone with the 50 kg broadcast spreader, a mobile fuel and battery trailer, and a two-person team within four business days. Flight lines were planned on 20-foot swath spacing with active phased-array radar terrain following on the high-severity steeps. The spreader was calibrated on site against a known weight before each day, and variable-rate flow control was used to increase density on north aspects.

• Heavy-lift ag drone + 50 kg broadcast spreader
• Colorado post-fire native mix @ 18 lb/ac PLS
• Mountain brome, slender wheatgrass, blue wildrye
• Lewis flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, yarrow
• 20-ft swath spacing, terrain following active

Results

Acres seeded

285

Field days

2.5

Application cost

~$27/acre

Helicopter alternative

$62/ac + $4.5k mob

First-season cover (11 mo.)

68% vs. 31% control

Mobilization lead time

4 business days

Challenge

A mid-sized operator needed to meet Colorado ECMC Rule 1002 interim reclamation on 22 acres of reshaped pad and access-road surface: approved native seed mix at a specified PLS rate, as-applied documentation, and a qualified applicator. Once the final grade was signed off, any further ground-disturbance activity would have re-rutted the surface and restarted the regulatory clock. The operator's prior approach — hydroseeding the fills and ATV-broadcasting the pads — had loaded to roughly $2,800/acre.

MWDS Solution

MWDS deployed a heavy-lift seeding drone with a site-specific flight plan covering all three pads and the connecting access corridor. The operator's ECMC-approved Sand Wash Basin native mix was run in two passes — grasses and forbs at 11 lb/ac PLS first, then a slow low-altitude pass with the sagebrush and half-shrub components to keep the light, fluffy seed on target. Pre-flight and post-flight spreader calibration weights were logged for each pass.

• Heavy-lift ag drone + 50 kg broadcast spreader
• ECMC-approved Sand Wash native mix @ 12 lb/ac PLS
• Wyoming big sagebrush, western & bluebunch wheatgrass
• Indian ricegrass, needle-and-thread, Sandberg bluegrass
• Two-pass application for shrub/forb fraction
• GPS as-applied map + calibration log for Form 4 filing

Results

Acres seeded

22

Field days

1

Application cost

~$22/acre

Prior method (loaded)

~$2,800/acre

Surface re-disturbance

Zero

Regulatory turnaround

Same-day report

Challenge

A fourth-generation cow-calf ranch masticated 400 acres of juniper-encroached rangeland and needed to re-establish understory in a single growing season to keep the pasture in the AUM rotation. Ground drilling was ruled out — too much parent rock and the mulched surface would have fouled a drill's openers. A fixed-wing ag operator quoted $30/acre + $1,200 ferry but was booked out six weeks, well outside the post-mastication seed window.

MWDS Solution

MWDS deployed a heavy-lift seeding drone over a four-day weather window immediately following mastication completion. The seed mix — developed with the ranch's agronomist and an NRCS conservation planner — was a cool-season grass + legume + forb blend targeted to establish forage in a single growing season while suppressing cheatgrass. Flight lines on 22-foot swath spacing with terrain following active across the broken shale benches.

• Heavy-lift ag drone + 50 kg broadcast spreader
• NRCS-developed cool-season mix @ 15 lb/ac PLS
• Intermediate + pubescent wheatgrass, slender wheatgrass
• Alfalfa (Ranger), small burnet, yarrow, blue flax
• 22-ft swath spacing, terrain following active
• 8-ac drilled control strip for side-by-side comparison

Results

Acres seeded

400

Field days

3.5

Application cost

~$23/acre

Fixed-wing alternative

$30/ac + ferry, 6-wk lead

First-season cover (NRCS plots)

73% vs. 54% drilled

AUM loss vs. baseline

1 year (saved 1)

Challenge

A midstream operator completed an 11-mile gathering pipeline with ~120 acres of linear disturbance. The BLM ROW grant required reclamation seeding with an approved native mix within 14 days of final backfill plus GPS-verified as-applied documentation. The route crossed eight drainages and several 20–35% cross-slopes. A dozer-drill quote came in at $38/ac but couldn't reach the steepest cross-slopes or the side drainages — those segments would have required hand broadcast at ~$200/ac. The drill operator's lead time was 11 days, putting the 14-day window at risk.

MWDS Solution

MWDS mobilized a heavy-lift seeding drone and two-person team to a midpoint staging pad. The ROW was flown in five segments matched to backfill completion, with a new flight plan generated as each segment cleared. The sagebrush and half-shrub fractions of the BLM-approved Piceance native mix were run as a second low-speed pass over every segment. A flight log, as-applied coverage map, and GPS track for each segment were delivered within 24 hours of each flight day and rolled into the BLM closeout packet as they were produced.

• Heavy-lift ag drone + 50 kg broadcast spreader
• BLM-approved Piceance native mix @ 14 lb/ac PLS
• Indian ricegrass, needle-and-thread, bottlebrush squirreltail
• Western wheatgrass, muttongrass, fourwing saltbush
• Two-pass application for shrub/forb fraction
• Segment-by-segment as-applied maps for closeout

Results

Acres seeded

120

ROW length

11 miles

Field days

6

Application cost

~$24/acre

Blended alternative

~$59/acre

Days from first backfill to done

9 (in 14-day window)