Interior West Resource Inventory, Monitoring, and Evaluation Program

FOREST SURVEY FIELD PROCEDURES

U.S. Department of Agriculture ANNUAL Rocky Mountain Research Station (V1.5)

March 2001

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ...... xii

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ...... 1-1

A. Program Purpose ...... 1-1 B. Field Organization…...... 1-1 C. Quality Control……...... 1-2 D. Personal Conduct and Safety ……...... 1-3 E. Everyday Considerations……...... 1-3 F. Vehicles ...... …... 1-4 G. Equipment and Supplies ...... 1-6

CHAPTER 2 - FINDING THE FIELD LOCATION CENTER……...... 2-1

A. Land Owner/Management Agency Verification…...... 2-1

B. Planning Travel to the Vicinity of the Field Location and LC Pinprick Verification ...... 2-1

C. Finding the Field Location Center - New Field Locations .… 2-2 1. Establishing LC with the GPS Receiver………………... 2-2 a. Verify PLGR Settings………………………………. 2-2 b. Select the LC Waypoint from the Location Waypoint List……………………...………… 2-2 c. Select a Suitable RP……………………………….. 2-3 d. Find the Position of the RP………………………… 2-3 e. Chaining from the RP to the LC………...………… 2-3 f. LC Verification………………………………………. 2-3 2. Establishing a Baseline and Scale…..…………….…… 2-5 a. Ground/Photo Method………...…………..……….. 2-5 b. Map/Photo Method…………………………………. 2-6 c. Selecting a reference point ……………………….. 2-8 d. Adjusting the photo scale reciprocal……………… 2-9 e. Calculating azimuth and distance………………… 2-10 f. Traversing to the LC……………………...………… 2-12 g. LC Verification………………………………………. 2-12 h. Moving the Pinprick………………………………… 2-13 D. Finding the Field Location Center – Remeasurement Field Locations ...... 2-14 1. RP Not Found ...... 2-15 2. RP Found But Not Usable ...... 2-20 3. Field Location Incorrectly Placed or Not Found ...... 2-21 i

CHAPTER 3 - DEFINING THE CONDITION CLASS ...... 3-1

A. Determining Condition Class: General Procedures……...... 3-1 1. Condition Class Attributes……………………………….. 3-2 2. Delineating Condition Classes Differing in Condition Status…………...... 3-3 *Exceptions to the size and width requirements……… 3-4

B. Condition Status Definitions ...... 3-12 1. Accessible Forest Land ...... 3-12 2. Nonforest Land...... 3-16 3. Noncensus Water………………………………………… 3-16 4. Census Water……..……………………………………… 3-16 5. Denied Access…………………….……………………… 3-16 6. Hazardous……….………………………………………… 3-16 7. Not in the Sample………………………………………… 3-17

C. Mapping the Condition Boundary...... 3-18 1. Locating the boundary…...... 3-18 2. Delineating the boundary……...... 3-19 3. Referencing the boundary……...... 3-21

ii CHAPTER 4 - FIELD PROCEDURE OVERVIEW ...... 4-1

A. Circumstances Precluding Field Location Establishment .… 4-1 1. Potential Situations ...... 4-1 2. Procedures ...... 4-4

B. Field Locations with Accessible Forest Land Present ...... 4-5

C. Field Locations with No Accessible Forest Land Present, (Nonforest Land and/or Water Only) ...... 4-6

D. Remeasurement, P3, and Accounting Plots ……………..... 4-7

E. Reserved Lands/Wilderness Areas...... 4-8

CHAPTER 5 - FIELD LOCATION LAYOUT AND TREE SAMPLING PROCEDURES ...... 5-1

*Layout Type Terminology …………………………..…….. 5-1

A. Field Location Layout ...... 5-5

B. Sampling Procedures ...... 5-6 1. Subplot Tree Tally ...... 5-6 2. Microplot Sapling Tally ...... 5-10 3. Seedling Counts ...... 5-11

iii CHAPTER 6 - FIELD LOCATION R