NORTON SHORES, Mich. — A West Michigan man hopes his unique use of technology changes the way people experience the outdoors in the future.
Ricky LaFever says he often thinks outside the box, but recently he put his idea inside of a tree.
LaFever explains that in the spring of 2021, his latest project came to him while asleep.
“I had a dream one night that I took my phone and scanned a tree,” said LaFever, who lives in Norton Shores. “I woke up and I was like, ‘Hey, I bet I can do that.’”
Rather than ignore it, he got to work and decided to plant a near field communications (NFC) chip into a tree in his backyard.
NFCs are short-range wireless connectivity technology that uses magnetic field induction to power devices when they’re touched together.
Examples of NFCs include contactless payments, like Apple Pay, or fitness apps which transfers data about a person’s workout from their wristbands to their smartphones.
“You’re able to save information inside of trees, like map information, website, Bitcoin,” said LaFever. “There are a ton of possibilities with it.”
LaFever calls his invention ReTreeve.
He says it’s still in the development phase. Right now he’s trying to create a logo that marks the NFC chip on a tree, allowing people to understand what’s there.
Over the past year and a half, he has installed six NFC chips on his property.
LaFever documents the process on TikTok. Some of his videos have received more than 1 million views.
He hopes to pitch ReTreeve to local parks and recreation departments within the next year.
“Let’s say you go to the park and there’s trails,” said LaFever. “Instead of having a sign up there, if you could identify if there’s a tree that you can retrieve information with your phone, you’d be able to scan that tree, pull up map information or anything else about that area.”
LaFever believes it’s an idea rooted in success, but says regardless of what happens, he hopes it inspires people to explore their creative sides.
“For the longest time, I didn’t really share these inventions, these ideas, because I thought it would be really weird,” said LaFever. “So now, it’s kind of like a confidence boost to myself. I know that people are enjoying it, I’m making people happy by doing it, so it’s also making me happy.”
