College of Natural Resources

Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Fire Sciences

Forest Measurements and Inventory

Laboratory 1

Part 1: Compass Skills and Surveying

Objectives of this laboratory exercise:

  • Be able to use your compass and tape to shoot bearings and distance to objects
  • Be able to set declination on your compass
  • Be able to use your compass and paces to find old survey markers, plot centers, monitoring trees
  • Be able to convert between feet and meters

Location:Meet at the Shattuck amphitheatre beside the Old Arboretum

Materials and Supplies:

  • This Handout – Print out and bring it with you
  • Hardhat (yours)
  • Something to write with (yours)
  • Loggers Tape (yours)
  • Silva Ranger Compass (yours)
  • Calculator (yours)
  • 100 foot tapes (supplied)
  • Flags (supplied)

Part 1: A 100ft measuring tape will be laid out on flat ground, with a flag placed at the beginning and at 66 feet. The goal of this first task is for you to determine how many of your paces are in a chain and how many of your paces are in 100m. Remember a pace is every 2nd step.

Walk 66 feet and count how many paces you take: paces

Walk the 66 feet again and count your number of paces: paces

Average of the two: average paces

Calculate how many paces are in:

100 feet = paces

Part 2: Setting Declination on your compass

Based on this figure below identify the appropriate declination for Moscow, Idaho:

Part 3: The Fundamentals of Stem Mapping

From the identified plot center, first face Due North and then by moving clockwise, use your compass and tapes/paces to measure the bearing and distance to all trees within a 1/20acre circular plot

Tree Number / Azimuth / Bearing / Distance (Feet) / Distance (Meters)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Part 4: Finding Old Survey Locations

In a group, using only your pace and compasses, locate the old inventory plots within the Shattuck Arboretum:

  1. The plot lies in the Shattuck Arboretum, 155 feet at 349 from a 23” Ponderosa Pine, 118 feet at 66 from a 22” Ponderosa Pine, 135 feet at 26 from the light-pole on the west side of the arboretum amphitheater. Plot #:______
  2. The plot lies in the Shattuck Arboretum, 80 feet at 308 from a 17” cedar, 118 feet at 19 from a 30” Ponderosa Pine, 160 feet north from the light-pole on the west side of the arboretum amphitheater. Plot #:______
  3. The plot lies in the Shattuck Arboretum, 66 feet at 37 from a 33” cottonwood, 109 feet at 109 from a 30” leaning deciduous tree, 126 feet at 22 from the southeast entrance to the tennis courts. Plot #:______
  4. The plot lies in the Shattuck Arboretum, 71 feet at 232 from a 20” maple, 135 feet at 207 from a 25” spruce tree, 75 feet at 346 from the southeast entrance to the tennis courts.Plot #:______
  5. The plot lies in the Shattuck Arboretum, 109 feet at 36 from a 20” spruce tree, 141 feet at 40 from a 21” Douglas-fir, 75 feet at 356 from the southeast corner of Memorial Gym.Plot #:______
  6. The plot lies in the Shattuck Arboretum, 55 feet at 280 from an 8” birch tree, 95 feet at 312 from a 25” Ponderosa Pine, 103 feet at 348 from the southeast corner of Memorial Gym.Plot #:______
  7. The plot lies in the Shattuck Arboretum, 43 feet at 10 from a 19” spruce tree, 126 feet at 60 from a multi-stem maple, 135 feet at 349 from a gold painted fire hydrant.Plot #:______
  8. The plot lies in the Shattuck Arboretum, 75 feet at 69 from a 16” spruce tree, 133 feet at 104 from a multi-stem cedar, 109 feet at 23 from a gold painted fire hydrant.Plot #:______
  9. The plot lies in the Shattuck Arboretum, 122 feet at 270 from a 13.5” maple tree, 126 feet at 308 from a 26” spruce tree, 116 feet at 43 from the southwest corner of Memorial Gym.Plot #:______
  10. The plot lies in the Shattuck Arboretum, 230 feet at 80 from a split-trunk maple, 190 feet at 82 from a 22” spruce tree, 92 feet north from the southwest corner of Memorial Gym.Plot #:______
  11. The plot lies in the Shattuck Arboretum, 225 feet at 87 from a split-trunk maple, 51 feet at 32 from an 18” spruce tree, 140 feet at 74 from a gold painted fire hydrant.Plot #:______

NAME: LAB DAY:

Question to be completed during lab:

  1. Tom was pacing from his starting location towards an old plot. He crested the hill and found that a new lake had formed over where his patch would have gone. Describe what you would do is his place to keep on course to the old plot without walking through the lake?