Technical Cooperation with the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) National REDD+ System Philippines Component 4: Forest Land Use Planning and REDD+ Implementation in Selected Areas PN 12.9022.0-001.00 / VN 81162755 Field Manual for the Forest Resources Assessments in Eastern Samar and Davao Oriental December 2014 Ralph LENNERTZ, Ransom FIEL, Cyrus Peter MEGRASO National REDD+ System Philippines Project Deutsche Forstservice GmbH Component 4 implemented on behalf of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH National REDD+ System Philippines Project Deutsche Forstservice GmbH Component 4 implemented on behalf of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH FRA Field Manual i TABLE OF CONTENT TABLE OF CONTENT ............................................................................................................. i APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ ii TABLES ................................................................................................................................ iii FIGURES .............................................................................................................................. iii ACRONYMS ......................................................................................................................... iv SYMBOLS .............................................................................................................................. v EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................ 1 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND .......................................................................... 2 1.1 National REDD+ System Philippines Project .......................................................... 2 1.2 Methodological Framework ..................................................................................... 2 1.3 Project Sites ........................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Objectives .............................................................................................................. 4 2. INVENTORY DESIGN ..................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Inventory Method .................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Number and Distribution of Sampling Units ............................................................ 6 2.3 Configuration of Sampling Units ............................................................................. 7 2.4 Observations and Measurements at and around the Sample Points ....................... 8 2.5 Observations and Measurements at and around the Satellite Centers.................... 8 2.6 Implementation ....................................................................................................... 9 2.6.1 Inventory teams .......................................................................................... 9 2.6.2 Inventory equipment .................................................................................. 10 2.6.3 Inventory camps ........................................................................................ 10 2.6.4 Data recording, processing and analysis ................................................... 11 2.7 Quality Assurance / Quality Control ...................................................................... 11 2.7.1 Quality Assurance (QA) ............................................................................ 11 2.7.2 Quality Control (QC) .................................................................................. 11 3. RETRIEVAL AND PERMANENT MARKING OF SAMPLE POINTS AND SATELLITE CENTERS.................................................................................................. 13 3.1 Approach of Sample Points using GPS Receivers ................................................ 13 3.2 Location of Sample Points and Satellite Centers using Compass and Distance Tape ...................................................................................................... 14 3.3 Permanent marking of Sample Points and Satellite Centers ................................. 16 3.4 Inaccessible Sample Points and Satellite Centers ................................................ 16 4. OBSERVATIONS AND MEASUREMENTS ................................................................... 18 National REDD+ System Philippines Project FRA Field Manual ii 4.1 Administrative Location ........................................................................................ 18 4.2 Target Coordinates ............................................................................................... 18 4.3 Actual Coordinates ............................................................................................... 18 4.4 Elevation .............................................................................................................. 18 4.5 Slope .................................................................................................................... 18 4.6 Slope Orientation .................................................................................................. 19 4.7 Terrain .................................................................................................................. 20 4.8 Land Classification ............................................................................................... 20 4.9 Land Cover ........................................................................................................... 20 4.10 Forest Type .......................................................................................................... 21 4.11 Tree Crown Cover ................................................................................................ 21 4.12 Plant Diversity ...................................................................................................... 22 4.13 Ground Coverage Classes by Vegetation Layers ................................................. 22 4.14 Ground Coverage and Average Depth of Litter ..................................................... 22 4.15 Mid-Diameter and Length of Lying Dead Wood Sections ...................................... 23 4.16 Observations / measurements on Live Trees and Standing Dead Wood .............. 24 4.16.1 Species ..................................................................................................... 24 4.16.2 Azimuth ..................................................................................................... 24 4.16.3 Horizontal distance.................................................................................... 24 4.16.4 Reference diameter ................................................................................... 26 4.16.5 Merchantable height .................................................................................. 28 5. SEQUENCING OF OBSERVATIONS, MEASUREMENTS AND DATA RECORDING ................................................................................................................ 32 5.1 Sequencing of Observations, Measurements and Data Recording at the Sample Points ...................................................................................................... 32 5.2 Sequencing of Observations, Measurements and Data Recording on the Satellites ............................................................................................................... 32 6. REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 34 APPENDICES Appendix 1: List of Sampling Units to be Inventoried in Eastern Samar Appendix 2: List of Sampling Units to be Inventoried in Davao Oriental Appendix 3: Inventory Data Forms Appendix 4: Species List (sorted by common name) Appendix 5: Species List (sorted by scientific name) National REDD+ System Philippines Project FRA Field Manual iii TABLES Table 1: Overview of plot sizes and data requirements for live trees and dead wood ........................................................................................................... 9 FIGURES Figure 1: Configuration of the sampling unit (cluster) ................................................. 7 Figure 2: GARMIN GPSmap 64 and 78 series GPS receivers ................................. 13 Figure 3: SUUNTO KB-14/360 handheld precision compass ................................... 15 Figure 4: Horizontal distance measurement with offset ............................................ 16 Figure 5: Re-location of inaccessible Satellites ........................................................ 17 Figure 6: SUUNTO PM-5/360 handheld precision clinometer / dendrometer ............ 19 Figure 7: Measurements on lying dead wood sections ............................................. 23 Figure 8: LTI TruePulse Laser 200 rangefinder ........................................................ 25 Figure 9: LTI TruePulse Laser 200 rangefinder (tilt sensor alignment) ..................... 25 Figure 10: LTI TruePulse Laser 200 rangefinder (horizontal distance measurements) ......................................................................................... 26 Figure 11: Reference diameter measurements .......................................................... 27