TREE CROPPING WOODLANDS WORKSHOP Day 3

Introduction to Woodland Assessment, Management & Valuations

Day Three. 7 July 1996

Host's Comments (in green):

Sunny day at last. Decisions on whether to attend Workshop or catch up on long overdue maintenance. Interesting to see the various tools used to measure trees.

Field Assessments & Methods of Recording

Field Data Collection & Office Data Records (Data Base).

Using the Various Methods Introduced, Assess a Given Area of Woodland for
(i) Stocking Rate & Espacement,
(ii) Species Percentage & Age Classes,
(iii) Heights & D.B.H. to Assess Stocking Volumes & Basal Areas.

Basic Techniques of Woodland Mensuration

  • Estimating a Tree's Height & Measuring Diameter & Girth.
  • How to Assess a Woodlands Stocking & Espacement.
  • The Vital Statistics of a Tree and Why We Require that Data.
  • Measuring a Tree's Crown Diameter and the Reasons for the Data.
  • Assessing a Mixed Stand for percent of Species.
  • Diameter, Distribution, Mix of age Classes and/or Heights,
  • Percentage of Good & Bad Trees.
  • Estimating Age of a Tree or Woodland Regarding Conifers, Hardwoods using Vision & Instrumentation

Assessing Increment Value & Sustainability

  • Introduction to 'Silve' & 'Festmeter' Volumes & Basal Area.
  • Introduction to the "Bilmore 'Silve' Stick".
  • Assessment Method & Recording Same.
  • 'Growth & Yield Plots' and Creating 'Local Tariff Tables'.
  • Creating Your Specific Property 'Silve' tables.
  • Using Present & Past Assessments to Calculate Sustainable Harvest Yields.

Interesting to see how WE measured trees! An adjoining block of neglected mature trees on sloping ground gave us food for thought. Contour planting looks a good option as trying to walk on the gradient gave some of us difficulty. We could also see what hadn't been done in the way of pruning, thinning and concluded some of the trees would be better cut for firewood and hopefully regrow. Some of this coppicing requires a lot of faith in regeneration!

Planting List

This is part of our initial Woodland planting. We have the trees mapped for reference. The varieties are hoped to be suited to our site and locality.
The Black Alders have been used as deep-rooting nitrogen-fixing infill, and we are checking to see how they grow in different locations including sunny bank to waterlogged soil.
As Alders are not well known to us we have done a lot of research and have discovered them to have a lot more uses than we expected.

Qty Species Common Name Properties Usage
180 Alnus glutinosa Black Alder Hardwood Charcoal
6 Alnus rubra Red Alder Hardwood Timber
2 Juglans nigra Black Walnut Hardwood Timber
2 Liquidamber American Sweetgum Hardwood Timber
5 Quercus robur European Oak Hardwood Timber
2 Quercus rubra Red Oak Hardwood Timber
10 Thuja plicata Western Red Cedar Conifer Timber
5 Populus Poplar Hardwood Timber
5 Sequoia sempervirens Californian Redwood Conifer Timber

TOP

NEXT? That's all for now. Perhaps we'll upload later photos taken before we sold...

HOME

horizontal rule - a layer of treecroppers

Scribed by Gail and Les, 1996. Last updated: 2008 February 24
http://www.nzero.co.nz/treecrop/treework3.htm