What Is Basal Area?
Basal area is one of the many measurements that Foresters use to determine how dense or close to capacity that a forest is.
Technically it is the number of square feet of stumps on an acre of land or if you live a little north of here in Canada, it is the number of square meters per hectare.
A forester not only keeps a close eye on this measurement but works to maintain this density in the forest over time with frequent thinnings and harvests.
Different species of trees thrive at different basal area densities and even within a specie group this density target will be adjusted for different age groups and locations.
This is a very abbreviated description of this tool but it may help you to know what is going on now when you see your Forester pull out his/her Prism, Angle Gage, or DME.
You will know that they are taking a measurement of the health and density of the forest, and calculating in their head what needs to be done to maintain the forest health and how soon.
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