A Faster Way to Cruise Sawtimber

Author: Powell J. Gordon  

Publisher: Society of American Foresters

ISSN: 0022-1201

Source: Journal of Forestry, Vol.67, Iss.6, 1969-06, pp. : 421-422

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Abstract

When d.b.h. and log length are tallied, volume estimation by prism cruising is reasonably accurate. However, the common practice of saving time by estimating stand volume based on tally-tree height, without regard to d.b.h., can result in errors exceeding 50 percent of actual volume. From 54 prism cruises in Mississippi, mean volumes per acre per tally tree, by log length, were calculated to be the local volume factors. But there was so much variation between timber stands that use of the local factors would have produced errors exceeding 5 percent in more than two-thirds of the 54 cruises. During the study, however, a way to estimate timber was found that is even less tedious but relatively accurate. The method involves the multiplication of the total number of counted logs in tallied trees by a factor which is adjusted by a simple correction calculation.