Management Planning Time

By: Allan Coldiron

Week of March 17-21, 2008

FOR 480

Management planning is up and coming for the groups of Forestry 480, with inventory reports being completed and turned in this week. The past few weeks have been mentally and physically draining for both groups, with the only pause in the action being spring break last week. Each group has had to travel to Cleft Rock on Tuesdays and Thursdays in order to complete their inventories on time. My group was really pressed for time and still lacks two plots of having the original projected 126 plots. Once the calculations are processed for the harvested and non-harvested areas of the property then we should have enough plots to reach the desired 10% sampling percent. Nevertheless we have completed the inventory to the best of our ability and are now shifting our attention to the management plan for the Cleft Rock property.

Picture 1: View of a white oak tree on a side slope in the harvested section of the Cleft Rock property.

As expected, with the field work coming to an end, the weather this past week was beautiful. Sunny and almost seventy degrees, and with the first day of spring on Thursday (03/20/08), the majority of the remaining weeks will be spent in the computer lab formulating the management plan. Meaning that we are going to miss a lot of the beautiful spring weather while we are working in the computer lab, making the work left to be done that much tougher. The inventory of Cleft Rock took over a month to complete and with the management plan and presentation still coming up, I am finally realizing how much work is involved with this course. I really have to take it one day at a time, especially since I am taking four other courses in conjunction with FOR 480.

Picture 2: Allan C. taking the DBH of a Chestnut Oak in a harvested track on Cleft Rock.

Looking back on the inventory, we are glad that it is over with because it was a lot of hard work, but we also learned a lot too. When working with time constraints and weather constraints, each day spent in the field is important and needs to be used to its fullest potential. We didn’t waste any days and I am glad we didn’t because we wouldn’t be finished now. I thought we would be finished with the inventory before the month was up, but I learned that you can only move so fast through the field and still be accurate. The only thing I would change about the inventory would be the weather. Too many cold, rainy, and snowy days, I am ready for some spring weather. Otherwise this has been an awesome experience that I will never forget.

Picture 3: Adrian Hudson with a big grin after the last day of inventory field work at Cleft Rock