what can you see?. message of the day: there is often more information that can be measured than is...

What Can You See?

Message of the Day: There is often more information that can be measured than is apparent at first glance

What Can You See?

FOR 274: Forest Measurements and Inventory

Lecture 1

Class Overview

• Who We Are

• What We Need

• Why Are We Here

• Course Outline

• Expectations

By the end of this course you should be able to Accurately and Efficiently complete any natural resource measurement field sheet.

Course Goals: Field Sheets, Cruising, and Stand Exams

Before We Begin: Essential Equipment

• Hard Hat

• Loggers Tape

• Compass

• Thinking Cap

In this class you are required to wear your hardhat at all times when we are in a forest.

Essential Equipment: What You Will Need by Sept 1Bullard Wildland Fire Fighters’ Helmet with “ratchet support” 24604

Forestry Suppliers: $43.95 each

Silva Ranger Compass: Must be Azimuth (0-360) model with “Declination Screw” 37036

Forestry Suppliers: $46.95 each

Spencer Loggers Tape: Must be a “Combination” Tape with both Linear Distance and DBH on reverse 39405

Forestry Suppliers (100’/120”): $75.95 each

For Each Section:

Lectures: MWF 10:30 – 11:20 TLC 23

Section 1 Lab:

Lab – Thurs 1:30 - 4:20 CNR 25

Section 2 Lab:

Lab – Fri 1:30 - 4:20 CNR 25

Lecture 1: Course Format and Expectations

Labs will start *outside* and end in CNR 25

- Labs mostly meet at Gold Fire Hydrant beside Old Arboretum

Field Trips at Blodget Tract:

August 26th/27th Species ID Field Trip

October 14th/15th Tree Age Field Trip

November 4th/5th Stand Exam

Meet at Gold Parking Lot beside Power Plant

Lecture 1: Lab Sessions

Lecture 1: A Note on Tutorials

There are weekly assignments. We encourage you to work in groups to solve the questions

The Friday Tutorial is your time to ask questions or make comments about problems or any other aspect of the class

Lecture 1: A Note on Lectures & the Textbook

Lectures are only a Guideline

Course Website:

http://www.cnr.uidaho.edu/for274new/

“When you measure what you are speaking about and express it in numbers, you know something about it, but when you cannot (or do not) measure it, when you cannot (or do not) express it in numbers, you knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind.”

Lord Kelvin

Lecture 1: Introduction to Forest Measurements

In all fields of science the ability to take repeatable and accurate measurements of a quantity is essential.


This course is quantitative:

- We use trigonometry

- We use statistics

- We take measurements

This course is essential for later courses: 324, 375, 424, 426, 427, 451, 435, 474, etc

Lecture 1: Introduction to Forest MeasurementsWhere does Forest Measurements fit in forest science?

- Tree Physiology: The study of how trees grow based on biology, physics, and chemistry. This field of science is helping us understand how climate and other factors (such as disturbances) are affecting the future production of biomass


- Forest Growth and Silviculture: Experiments and models to predict growth and succession based on biology, ecology, climate, and soil science. This field of science is essential to forest management as it helps us understand the impacts of site, treatments, genetics, etc


- Forest Inventory: Management and Research to quantify how much resources is currently present in a forest. These resources could be timber volume, water and water quality, carbon sequestration, wildlife habitats, etc. This area of research often includes the analysis of aerial photography and more recently laser altimetry data.

Forest Measurements is critical to these studies

It provides the instrument know-how and the quantitative understanding of both growth models and the statistics used to analyze these datasets.

“Forest measurements deals with the study of the volume of logs, trees, and stands, and with the study of increment and yield.”

Henry S Graves (1906)


Quantifying current and future biomass at multiple scales is essential for the management of wild land areas


Managers are faced with many decisions:

What treatments to use, When to thin and when to burn, What is the value of a potential sale, what are the potentials for recreation, wildlife, carbon storage, etc

Information is needed to answer such questions:

This information should be quantitative and have the same meaning in other environments and to other people

Forest measurements provide managers with quantitative data to enable reliable (and defensible) decision making

Husch, Beers, and Kershaw

Ponderosa Pine Logging

Left: Brian Geils (1962)

Different Management Objectives:

Forest Inventory of Merchantable Timber



Forest Pathology


Ponderosa Pine Mistletoe Brooms

Brian Geils (1955)


Insect Damage


Ponderosa Pine Mountain Pine Beetle

USFS


Fires and Fuels


Regeneration (Rodeo-Chediski Fire)

USFS – Flagstaff Office

An AmericaFlux Tower


Carbon & Water Processes


USFS Sign


Recreation


Saw-whet owl by Virgil Scott (1977)


Wildlife


Ponderosa Pine Logging

Left: Brian Geils (1962)

Main Historical Milestones:

•Hennet (1791) developed tree volume relations based on the amount of water displaced by timber

•Paulsen (1795) developed the first growth and yield tables

•Cotta (1804) invented the caliper and constructed the first volume tables

•Bitterlich (1948) developed the angle count concept to estimate basal area per hectare

•Bickford (1963) developed a sampling schema that used aerial photography with stand data

•Nelson (1984) was one of the first researchers to use Lidar to evaluate forest canopy and biomass

•Falkowski (2009) developed methods to map forest successional stage with Lidar

Forest Measurements is Continually Changing

“The continued need for forestry personnel with imagination and inventiveness is clearly apparent”

Avery and Burkhart

“Imagination is more important than knowledge: Knowledge is limited, Imagination encircles the world.”

Albert Einstein

Forest Measurements is Continually Changing

what can you see?. message of the day: there is often more information that can be measured than is...

Documents

inventory lecture

forest measurements

class overview

course outline expectations