Diameter Breast Height (DBH), Why is this so important?
No this is not a new measurement that the ladies are using.
Rather it is an old measurement that every Forester is intimately familiar with.
Every Forester knows where Breast Height is on their body even though it is seldom where the forester's Breasts are actually located; on some it is as low as their navel, and others it it closer to their chin.
It is a critical measure in our need to have consistent measurements while measuring tree volumes.
We all know that Diameter Breast Height is firmly placed at 54 inches above the ground on the highest side of the tree (with a few exceptions) whether our breasts land here or somewhere else.
Foresters who have neglected this simple and essential rule have been rewarded with inaccurate data, lost jobs, and sometimes even lawsuits.
Being off on this critical number can affect the diameter of the tree as tree trunks are always tapered rather than straight cylinders.
A DBH measured too low will result in a measurement that is too large, while a DBH that it measured to high on the trunk will generally result in an underestimation of the tree's actual size.
Being off by a few inches if just measuring one tree can be insignificant resulting in only an error of only a few board feet, or a small fraction of a cord, but seldom are we measuring just a single tree.
On a medium inventory or cruise, each tree measured may represent hundreds of others, and on a large cruise each tree measured can represent thousands of trees.
So a small error in a single tree, or a consistent error like a poorly placed DBH can results in hundreds of thousands of dollars in errors.
Our foresters, know the value of careful accurate data, and they follow the cruising rules, using the best of equipment and skills to always produce the most accurate measurements.
These accurate measurements result in the most accurate inventories and appraisals of the forests we work in.
So when only the best will do, call on the WMS Crew!
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