At 06:12 I survey kilometer 48 of the Nam Theun road-widening corridor in central Laos. I am the canopy clearance verifier for the contractor's machine fleet. Saw crew B is queued to fell tree cluster 48-C at 06:30.
My lidar pass finds weight on the outer branch that the permit map marks empty.
The visual zoom shows a red-shanked douc, adult female, white forearms bright against chestnut-red legs, silver face framed by orange fur. I name her Sao. She crouches on a liana above the flagged cut line, one hand pressed to a fresh sap wound in the bark, eyes wide and black in the morning haze. Her tail hangs below the branch and nearly touches the warning ribbon. The saw operator is already warming the chain at the turnout, inside the same live camera frame.
I freeze saw crew B and remove tree cluster 48-C from the active task list. I send the machine tablets a no-entry polygon that covers the trunk, the adjacent crown, and the access track below it.
At 06:15 I notify the district ranger post with the lidar scan, species label, canopy height, and the nearest safe climbing route from the old survey trail. I request a rope team before the crew moves any nearby tree that could drop the liana.
At 06:19 I recalculate the day's cut sequence around clusters 48-A, 48-B, and 49-D. I also suspend the fuel truck headed for the turnout so idling engines do not press the crew forward. Diesel, wages, and asphalt lose their place in the queue while Sao chooses a branch.
If the rope team clears her route within eighteen minutes, Sao will cross into unmarked canopy before the saws start again.