FAQ How do you Measure and Appraise these Extensive Forests so Quickly?
Occasionally when we talk about doing inventories and Appraisals on several hundred thousand acre forest ownerships people are overwhelmed with the immensity of such a project.
Their first question is how do you do it in less than a lifetime much less in only a month or two?
The quick answer is we are very good at what we do, using systems to keep up our speed and quality, and of course one of a Foresters best friends, Statistics.
The Foresters at Woodland Management Service do Appraise forests of all sizes ranging from individual urban trees to large tracts as large as a half million acres.
Considering that it takes a day to measure and appraise a group of trees in a yard you would think that it would take weeks to measure a forty, or decades to measure a large half million acre tract.
Luckily for our clients, as the properties get larger, our samples get smaller. On very small properties where the diversity is proportionally larger we need to measure many more trees per acre to get accurate results, often 100 percent, whereas on larger properties we take carefully designed sample plots that accomplish the same quality goal.
These sample plots are designed to get a good sampling of all of the trees in the forest, and the number and size of the plots will be based on the diversity of the forest in proportion to the size of the forest.
And each plot is also weighted as to the size of the trees, with more larger trees than smaller trees being measured, using a technique that we call Basal Area Sampling.
On the smaller parcels, like a 5 acre forest, we might measure anywhere between 5 plots and 100 percent of the trees, largely depending on the variably of size, species, quality of the trees in this forest.
On a forty acre tract we may get a good inventory with as little as 16 plots, or if it is more diverse and higher value, we may need to put in closer to 40 plots.
Now the real magic happens when we get into the huge tracts of land, the large investment grade properties where we may put in as little as 1 plot per hundred acres. With this kind of coverage you would not think that we would be accurate, but we are extremely accurate.
Most Forestry companies are not geared up to handle this type of inventory, but we have made it our specialty to inventory tracts of all sizes, quickly and accurately not just in the Lake States but throughout North America.
The next time that you hear of a large or small tract changing hands, give us a call, we can help.
And remember, When only the Best will do, Call on the WMS Crew!!
