This week, we finished stocking surveys and moved on to learning how to do timber cruising.
Jazelle Samp Curry
Timber cruising is where we check on older trees to assess the quantity and quality of timber that can be harvested. Like stocking surveys, we observe the health, height and damage to trees, but this time we start observing when the trees are around 35 years old, and then they get checked on every five to eight years until harvest.
We were equipped with a D-tape to measure DBH, a relascope to measure which trees were in our plot’s perimeter, a laser to help us check the height of our trees and the percentage of live crown. We were able to observe and document damage in the top, middle or bottom of the tree. Though it was a little tricky learning how to use some of these items for the first time, practice makes progress. We practiced on many plots and saw improvement with every plot. As we got more familiar with using the tools, we improved our accuracy and efficiency and were set loose to do more timber cruising in assigned units.
As we switched from stocking surveys to timber cruising this week, we noticed vastly different scenery in the older forests. In older stands, the understory is more shaded, and plants are more sparsely placed in the forest floor due to limited sunlight. Because of this, we begin to see more shade tolerant species in the understory of these older stands, rather than some of the faster growing shrubs and various pioneer species that are common to see in the younger stands.
Standing on an old stump gives Jazelle a bit of perspective.
Some of the things we look for in accounting for damages to the tree include ramicorns (branches that sharply angle up causing damage to that section of the tree), jogs (severe bends in the trunk of the tree), scarring (torn bark from animals or thinning projects), or rot, which can sometimes be signified externally by conk (bracket or shelf fungi). At one of our units, we saw a snag (a dead tree that is still standing) with a conk on either side of it.
Conk fungus.
At the end of the week, my coworkers and I got to enjoy the Philomath Frolic and Rodeo.
I brought my mom!
Steven and Caroline got to experience it up close and personal when they competed for Starker Forests in the donkey races. Though the donkey didn’t seem to want Steven to ride it and caused him some trouble in the first half, once Caroline got on halfway through, she hung on tight and coaxed their donkey to race with the others over the finish line.
Caroline trying to hold the donkey for Steve. Caroline talks the donkey across the finish line.
— Jazelle Samp Curry