It can be difficult to escape technology these days. Even in the wilderness, how often do you check your GPS watch or grab a snap of an incredible view? And yet, if asked, most of us would say we pull on our hiking boots and hit the trail to unplug and often, one of the best parts of a hike is realizing your phone has no service. So it may come as a surprise to hikers in areas like northern California’s Jackson Demonstration State Forest that high above their heads is a network of tiny sensors quietly surveilling the environment.
No, this isn’t some dystopian nightmare of Big Brother technology feeding data about your movements in the backcountry back to Google (your phone is doing that) nor has it anything to do with 5G. These sensors are there in part to help sniff out and prevent wildfires – and hopefully help save the forests we love.
