Canadian forestrp 3oumal 



VOL. XVI. 



OTTAWA. CANADA, JANUARY. 1920. 



NO. 1. 



Fin-i'slcrs iniiiiiii^ ;i surv<-v tliroimli (iii,.ii coiiiur'.-. 



HOW FOREST SURVEYS ARE MADE 



By Roland D. Craig, Commission of Conservation : 

 Co-author of "The Forest Resources of British Columbia. 



With the rise in stumpage values, greater 

 accuracy in timber estimating has become nec- 

 essary. In the days of plenty, the ''timber 

 looker" had only to wander tlirough a tract 

 until he saw enough timber to justify a pur- 

 chase or an operation, but to-day, with standing 

 white pine selling at $20.00 per thousand feet, 

 and other species, formerly regarded as of little 

 or no value, commanding proportional prices in 

 the lumber industry, the making of a forest 

 survey has become a technical undertaking re- 

 quiring a knowledge of surveying and forest 

 mensuration. A forest survey should include 

 not only an estimate of the amount of timber 

 but tiie preparation of a map from which log 

 ging operations can be inlolli'j;ently planned. 



Except where great accuracy is desired aid 

 tract to be covered is small it is unnecessary, 

 if not impossible, to measure all liie trees so 

 that estimates of the total stand are almost 

 always based on average yields found on sam- 

 ple areas. The sample areas may be taken in 

 small blocks at regular intervals throughout the 

 tract, but the better way is to lay them out in 

 strips running across the tract. 



The percentage of the area to be act'i.illy 

 cruised depends on the degree of accuracy de- 

 sired, the are.\ of the tract and the nature of 

 tiie coi'piiy On large areas, of say a 'own- 

 ship in extent, where topographical and forest 

 conditions are more or less uniform, an actual 

 cruise of five pei cent of the area or in some 



