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Materials Needed
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- Cloth or steel measuring tape – Preferably 100 feet long or longer.
- Colored ribbon – For marking trees and plot boundaries
- Hand Compass – For establishing your plot grid in the woods.
- LMS Software – We recommend version 2.1, which includes the Inventory Wizard program. Available for free download from http://lms.cfr.washington.edu/download/
- Misc. Supplies – Pencils, pens (several colors), ruler
- Windows-based computer – A Windows® based computer is necessary to run the Landscape Management System (LMS). This learning module is intended for use in conjunction with the LMS program to manage and generate outputs from your inventory data. Internet access and a printer are also recommended for generating maps, etc. of your property.
- Woodland stick – Also called a Biltmore stick or a cruiser stick. This inexpensive tool resembles a yardstick and will allow you to measure tree heights and diameters quickly and easily. You can also use a diameter tape and clinometer instead of a woodland stick to perform these functions (see Recommended Tools below).
- Acreage measuring grid – A grid or series of evenly spaced dots that are often printed on clear plastic and used to measure area on a map.
- Calculator – This will simplify a variety of calculations that you may come across. A basic hand calculator is all that is needed.
- Clinometer – This instrument is used to measure tree heights by measuring vertical angles between your eye and the top and bottom of the tree. A clinometer is more accurate than a woodland stick but also more expensive. Look for a clinometer that measures percent slope.
- Diameter tape – This special measuring tape has been calibrated such that when you wrap it around the circumference of the tree, you are actually reading the measurement in diameter units (i.e. the measurements have been divided by the constant Pi). A diameter tape is more accurate than a woodland stick but also more expensive.
- Logger tape – this retractable tape typically comes in 50-, 75-, and 100-foot lengths, has distance measurements (usually in feet and 1/10th’s of feet) on one side, and is a diameter tape on the other. A logger tape can take the place of both a cloth measuring tape and a stand-alone diameter tape. The 100-foot length is recommended.
- Graph/grid paper – A blank sheet of grid paper can be used in place of a plastic acreage measuring grid for use in creating maps and computing acreages.
- Increment borer – This tool is used to extract a core sample from a tree, which will allow you to count annual rings and determine tree age in a non-destructive manner.
- Orange timber marking crayon – You can use this for easy marking of the trees in your plots.
- Permanent marker – May be desired for marking ribbons to identify plots, trees, etc.
- Prism – glass wedge – Variable plots (advanced users) are established by looking through these precisely calibrated glass pieces.
- Prism – Keyhole – Instead of using glass prisms, you can look through the openings in this inexpensive metal tool to establish variable plots (advanced users).
- Rope – Pre-measured lengths of rope can simply the establishment of fixed plots.
- Staff or stakes – You can use these to mark plot centers.
The tools above are available from forestry supply retailers. Below is a list (not exhaustive and with no implied endorsement) of several such retailers:
- Bailey's: http://www.baileysonline.com/
- Ben Meadows: http://www.benmeadows.com/
- Forestry Suppliers: http://www.forestry-suppliers.com/
- Pac-Forest Supply: http://www.pacforestsupply.com/
