Back to the Ozarks for a bit

[Johnsfolly]

OTF - great photos of the Current. I haven't been to a couple of those spots. So that creates the yearn to explore those watersheds more fully. Thanks!

[ozark trout fisher]

5 hours ago, Mitch f said:

I'm a measuring guy by trade...what types of hardware do you use to measure a tree?

A few things...most important tool is a "loggers tape" a two-sided flexible steel measuring tape that measures both diameter of the tree (the most important tree measurement is diameter measured ar 4.5 feet above the ground) with regular length/distance on the other side that I use to measure the dimensions of damage caused to the tree from fire.

Weirdly, all forestry measurements are in feet and tenths. No inches, definitely no metric system.

Then there is a clinometer, a small eye-piece thay uses angles/distance to measure tree height. They are also used to calculate the % slope of the hillside, which can be important for a number of reasons, but for me, mainly because fire behaves very differently on steep side-slopes than in a flat mountain-top glade.

Beyond that, nothing fancy. A hammer or hatchet to hit the tree with to see if it's hollow/rotten, a compass, which serves too many purposes to list, and, if you're lucky, a GPS that works consistently.

[ozark trout fisher]

5 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

OTF - great photos of the Current. I haven't been to a couple of those spots. So that creates the yearn to explore those watersheds more fully. Thanks!

Happy to hopefully inspire a trip or two!

[Mitch f]

8 hours ago, ozark trout fisher said:

A few things...most important tool is a "loggers tape" a two-sided flexible steel measuring tape that measures both diameter of the tree (the most important tree measurement is diameter measured ar 4.5 feet above the ground) with regular length/distance on the other side that I use to measure the dimensions of damage caused to the tree from fire.

Weirdly, all forestry measurements are in feet and tenths. No inches, definitely no metric system.

Then there is a clinometer, a small eye-piece thay uses angles/distance to measure tree height. They are also used to calculate the % slope of the hillside, which can be important for a number of reasons, but for me, mainly because fire behaves very differently on steep side-slopes than in a flat mountain-top glade.

Beyond that, nothing fancy. A hammer or hatchet to hit the tree with to see if it's hollow/rotten, a compass, which serves too many purposes to list, and, if you're lucky, a GPS that works consistently.

Interesting, do you have to measure a huge number of trees on a certain hillside?

[ozark trout fisher]

Yeah, pretty much. We do 15 randomly placed 1/5th acre plots in each site, or a radius of 50ish feet from plot center. Every tree over 10 inches in diameter within that radius gets measured.

[snagged in outlet 3]

When I got out of college I worked for Monsanto for a time.  They were developing Round Up Ready Corn.  I spent everyday counting 1/10 acre plots of corn.  Number of plants, number of ears per plant and number of kernels per ear.  I finished out the week and quit.  Heck GM paid more to make Buicks than Monsanto paid Biotechnologists.    

[ozark trout fisher]

6 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

When I got out of college I worked for Monsanto for a time.  They were developing Round Up Ready Corn.  I spent everyday counting 1/10 acre plots of corn.  Number of plants, number of ears per plant and number of kernels per ear.  I finished out the week and quit.  Heck GM paid more to make Buicks than Monsanto paid Biotechnologists.    

I've had jobs where you are quite literally measuring individual blades of grass, shrubs, anything that is green. That includes poison ivy. I have gotten to the point on some days where I'm so darn tired of plants that in that moment I'd be okay turning the entire Ozark plateau into a huge parking lot.

Thankfully this job is much more interesting. I get to analyze the data, and figure out the story it tells, instead of just mindlessly measuring plants/trees. That brings a whole new perspective that I really enjoy. 

[Mitch f]

12 hours ago, ozark trout fisher said:

I've had jobs where you are quite literally measuring individual blades of grass, shrubs, anything that is green. That includes poison ivy. I have gotten to the point on some days where I'm so darn tired of plants that in that moment I'd be okay turning the entire Ozark plateau into a huge parking lot.

Thankfully this job is much more interesting. I get to analyze the data, and figure out the story it tells, instead of just mindlessly measuring plants/trees. That brings a whole new perspective that I really enjoy. 

That's cool, we have area laser scanners that capture incredible detail in an up to 80 yard radius. You can also make them level to gravity. The tree diameters and angles could be extracted in one swoop. The problem is that it's line of sight restricted and you would have to make multiple setups that could take an hour or two. We put down monuments to stitch the data together automatically.

[ozark trout fisher]

7 hours ago, Mitch f said:

That's cool, we have area laser scanners that capture incredible detail in an up to 80 yard radius. You can also make them level to gravity. The tree diameters and angles could be extracted in one swoop. The problem is that it's line of sight restricted and you would have to make multiple setups that could take an hour or two. We put down monuments to stitch the data together automatically.

That's awesome. I once had my hands on a tool that would take tree diameters, heights, distances, and pretty much all the other data we needed from distances of up to 100 feet. That was nice, but I did question whether the measurements were as accurate as the ones I get by hand...and much more importantly, in my current job I don't have anywhere near the budget to go out and buy one. 

Also, I learned that when we had that fancy technology some folks have been known to use it to cut corners....and do things like trying to measure a fire-scar on a tree from 50 feet away instead of walking up to it and actually having the closer look you need to see what's really going on. Being naturally technically impaired and also having a tendency to pay attention to detail, I don't mind having stone-age equipment but hopefully getting better data with it. Of course I only say this because my job blessedly doesn't tend to put me under too much time pressure and I can afford to take my time. Not everyone and especially those working for government agencies have that privilege.