Annual Inventory
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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 REFERENCE ITEMS ...................................................... 6-1 A. Identification Items .............................................................. 6-1 B. Reference Point .............................................................. 6-1 C. Course to Location Center .............................................. 6-2 D. LC Witness Trees .............................................................. 6-3 E. Baseline Information ...................................................... 6-5 F. Travel Description .............................................................. 6-5 G. Owner Information ...................................................... 6-6 H. Field Location Map .............................................................. 6-6 I. Field Crew ...................................................................... 6-6 J. Photos .............................................................................. 6-6 K. Editing .............................................................................. 6-7 L. Map Name and Scale ...................................................... 6-7 M. Legal Description .............................................................. 6-7 N. Photographing the Field Location ....................................... 6-8 0. Global Positioning System (GPS) Reference Data ....... 6-9 iv CHAPTER 7 - FIELD LOCATION DESCRIPTION ITEMS ...................................................... 7-1 ITEM 101 State (CORE – 1.1) .......…...................................................… 7-1 104 County (CORE – 1.2) ............................................................... 7-1 105 P2 Location Number (CORE – 1.3, Plot Number).................... 7-2 106 USGS Map Number ……….................................................... 7-2 103 Consecutive Point Number (CPN) ....................................... 7-2 121 Current Date (CORE – 1.6) ...................................................... 7-2 122 Crew Number(s) .....….............................................................. 7-3 123 Crew Type (CORE – 1.17)........................................................ 7-3 124 QA Status (CORE – 1.16)…….................................................. 7-3 131 Sample Kind (CORE – 1.4)....................................................... 7-4 128 Manual Version (CORE – 1.5)………………………..………..… 7-4 129 Current Location Status ………………….…………………… 7-5 130 Condition Class Change ………………………………………. 7-6 134 Range Data ……………………………………………………….. 7-7 132 Subplot Radius…...................................................................... 7-7 133 Microplot Radius.........................................................…........... 7-7 135 Microplot Location..................................................................... 7-8 143 Trails or Roads (CORE – 1.8) ............................................... 7-8 144 Horizontal Distance to Improve Road (CORE – 1.9)................. 7-9 145 Public Use Restrictions (CORE – 1.11).................................... 7-10 149 Road Access (CORE – 1.10)……….……………………………. 7-10 146 Recreation Use 1, 2, and 3 (CORE – 1.12-1.14)...................... 7-11 150 Water on Plot (CORE – 1.15)……………………………………. 7-12 147 Water Proximity ...................................................................... 7-13 148 Water Type .............................................................................. 7-14 141 Size of Forested Area…………………………………………….. 7-15 171 GPS Unit (CORE – 1.18.3)……………………………………… 7-16 172 GPS Serial Number (CORE – 1.18.4)…………….…………….. 7-16 173 Coordinate System (CORE – 1.18.5)…………….……………... 7-16 174 GPS Elevation (CORE – 1.18.14)………..………………….….. 7-17 175 GPS Error (CORE – 1.18.15)…………………..……….……….. 7-17 176 Number of GPS Readings (CORE – 1.18.16)....………………. 7-17 177 UTM Zone (CORE – 1.18.8)…………………………….……….. 7-17 178 Easting (X) UTM (CORE – 1.18.9)……………………………… 7-17 179 Northing (Y) UTM (CORE – 1.18.10)….…..……………………. 7-18 180 Azimuth to Plot Center (CORE – 1.18.12)……...………………. 7-18 181 Distance to Plot Center (CORE – 1.18.13)…………...………… 7-18 107 Future Forest Potential………...…………………………………. 7-19 v CHAPTER 8 - CONDITION CLASS DESCRIPTION ITEMS ...................................................... 8-1 A. Condition Class Description .............................................. 8-1 ITEM 201 Condition Class Number (CORE – 2.2.1) ................................ 8-2 203 Condition Class Status (CORE – DEFINING – 2.2.2)............... 8-2 204 Hazard Status……………………………………………………… 8-3 205 Reserved Status (CORE – DEFINING – 2.4.1) …………..…… 8-3 207 Owner Group (CORE – DEFINING – 2.4.2)………………….… 8-4 209 Owner Class (CORE – 2.4.7) ……….…………………….….. 8-4 210 Private Owner Industrial Status (CORE – 2.4.8)…..……….….. 8-6 221 Forest Type (CORE – DEFINING - 2.4.3) .................……....... 8-7 219 Nonstocked Forest Type ………………………………………… 8-18 222 Stand-size Class (CORE – DEFINING – 2.4.4).......................