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JAMES C. SPACE

= 149622 => 7 12R312 = EEE Ll S UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ay S FOREST SERVICE 2 z INTERMOUNTAIN FOREST & RANGE EXPERIMENT STATION \ j OGDEN Wan AWH E a No. 76

AERIAL VOLUME TABLES FOR PONDEROSA PINE TYPE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

Karl E. Moessner Division of Forest Economics

These aerial photo volume tables for ponderosa pine type result from the continuing research in direct photo estimating conducted at the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Ogden, Utah. 1/

Volume estimating by direct photo measurement requires a different approach from ground cruising. Individual trees have little meaning to the photo interpreter; he sees and measures plots or stands. His estimates are most reliable when he has learned to think in terms of mean per acre volumes

as they relate to the direct photo measurements of stand height, crown dia- meter, and crown coverage.

Photo interpreters have difficulty in identifying species on the small or medium scale photos usually available, and since many forest types contain a mixture of hardwood or conifer species, aerial stand volume tables usually are prepared as composite tables. Such tables may be for either conifer or hardwood, depending on the predominant cover, and usually are compiled from plots having a random grouping of species.

Ponderosa pine, however, occurs as a relatively pure type over extensive areas throughout the West. Although Douglas-fir and a few other conifers may

be found on some north slopes, they rarely constitute more than 20 percent of the per acre volume in this so-called pure type.

The type is easy to recognize on aerial photos. Its identifying charac- teristic is the tendency to grow even-aged in small groups with crown cover

of the dominant stand often less than 55 percent of the acre. In the more

1/ Moessner, Karl E. Preliminary aerial volume tables for conifer stands in the Rocky Mountains. U.S. Forest Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Expt, Sta. Research Paper 41; 17 *pp. illus. - 1957.

open stands, where crown coverage of mature trees may range from 5 to 35 per- cent, characteristic shadows aid the interpreter in recognizing the type. Because of these silvicultural characteristics, and because tests indicate volumes significantly lower than those obtained from the composite aerial volume tables published in Research Paper 41, a separate aerial table has been prepared for ponderosa pine.

Procedure

The following tables were compiled from 84 plots measured in Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and the Black Hills of South Dakota. They relate gross board-foot and cubic-foot volumes from field measurements of 1/5-acre plots with direct photo measurements of the same plots.

Photo measurements consist of:

1. Average total height of the dominant stand. 2. Average visible crown diameter of the dominant stand. 3. Crown coverage of the dominant stand.

Photo measurements of total height were checked against the ground meas- urements of the three tallest trees on the 1/5-acre plot.

Gross volumes were computed from field data using total height-d.b.h. tables developed by Forest Survey and include:

1. Gross cubic volume--trees 5.0 inches d.b.h. and larger to a 4-inch top.

2. Gross board foot International X%-inch Rule--trees 11.0 inches and larger to a variable top with a minimum of 5.5 inches.

3. Gross board foot (Scribner)--trees 9.0 ieneee” and larger to same top diameters.

Volumes include cull trees and sound and cull portions of sound trees since the interpreter cannot recognize these conditions.

These tables were constructed by the alignment chart method of solving problems in multiple curvilinear correlations described by Bruce and Reineke.3/ They are designed for use in direct photo estimates of ponderosa pine stands throughout the central Rocky Mountain areas. Use of a limited field sample should allow adjustment of these estimates to fit local areas.

2/ The 10-inch diameter class is used in many regional timber sales and accounts for the apparent inconsistency in the tables where a larger volume is shown for Scribner than for International %-inch Rule, particularly in the smaller stands.

Standard Measures of Accuracy

Standard measures of accuracy for the three tables are shown in the fol- lowing tabulation:

Aggregate / Table deviation Standard error of estimate Percent Units per acre Percent Gross volume Cubic feet =O5 32 +890 +40.8 Gross volume Board foot International Lo +5 ,620 +54.3 Gross volume Board foot Scribner aah 2 +4,884 250

Tests of the Tables

A few tests of these ponderosa pine tables were made by comparing plot volumes with those obtained from field measurements and with those read from composite aerial tables published in Research Paper 41. For the most part, these plot series tests showed that mean per acre board-foot and cubic-foot volumes obtained from the ponderosa pine tables differed significantly from those obtained from the composite tables, but did not differ significantly from mean volumes obtained from ground measurements.

In addition, these tables were used by the five photo interpreters who made aerial estimates of ponderosa pine volumes on cutting compartments of the Boise Basin Experimental Forest, and on sales in the Black Hills National Forest in 1958. Summarized in a recent paper, these data clearly indicate that properly trained photo interpreters using these ponderosa pine tables can make excellent aerial estimates throughout much of the ponderosa pine type.

3/ Bruce, D., and L. H. Reineke. Correlation alinement charts in forest research: a method of solving problems in curvilinear multiple cor- eetation. =U.s. Dept. Agr.e Tech. Bul; 210, 87 pp.i, illus. 1931.

4/ Defined as the standard deviation of the difference between paired photo and field plot volumes, expressed in units per acre or as a percent of the average plot volume. The standard error of estimate indicated for these aerial tables is large because l-acre plots measured on photos were compared with 1/5-acre plots measured on the ground. The true value of these tables is somewhat better than these errors indicate.

5/ Moessner, Karl E. Estimating timber volume by direct photogrammetric methods. Soc. Amer. Foresters Proc., pp. 148-151. 1959.

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