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Individual Plant Measurements

The purpose of this section of the class is to become familiar with the principals of individual tree, shrub, and coarse woody debris  measurement methods as they are applied to forestry and other natural resource disciplines. The lectures, assignments, and labs in this section, will enable the student to achieve the following learning objectives:

• Know how to measure diameter at breast height and diameter at root collar for tree shrubs under a large variety of commonly seen conditions

• Understand the difference between a "fork" and a "branch" 

• Know how to measure the maximum height of a tree

• Understand how to measure tree heights on sloped terrain

• Know how to measure tree age

• Explain whether a tree is dominant, co-dominant, or immediate

• Understand how to measure tree and wood volume

• Know how to measure abundance of forbs and grasses

• Understand how to scale logs and Explain the importance of defects

Lecture PDFs:

• Week 6 M - Measures of Stem Diameter (PDF)

• Week 6 W - Tree Heights (PDF)

• Week 7 M - Tree Crowns (PDF) - NB

• Week 7 W - Tree Age and Bark (PDF) - NB

• Week 8 M - Tree and Wood Volume (PDF)

• Week 8 W - Plant Density & Cover (PDF)

Labs and Quizzes:

• Week 6 Lab: Measuring Diameters, Heights, and Forms (PDF)
• Week 7 Lab: Measurement Quiz
• Week 8 Lab: Tree Age at Blodget Tract (PDF)
• Making Graphs with Excel (DOC)

Required Readings:

• Husch, Beers, and Kershaw pp 81-150 and pp 201-227

Additional Resources:

• USFS Wood Defect Guide - Warning Large file (51MB!) PDF Link