All posts by Melinda Olson

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

7:30am            Coffee

8:00                 Breakfast buffet

8:40                 Overview: Workforce Development Needs and Opportunities Workshop – Nicole Jacobsen, Western Forestry and Conservation Association

8:45               Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 101: Increasing Awareness in the Workplace – Marika Barto, Washington State Department of Labor & Industries 

9:30               Industry Survey: Current Efforts and Future Needs  – Kathryn Kurtz, Pacific Education Institute 

10:15               Break

10:30             Updates from WA Dept. of Natural Resources: Community Outreach and K-12  Involvement – Clare Sobetski, Washington Department of Natural Resources

11:10             Why DEI? What does it look like in the forestry industry?  – Cal Jackson, Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion at Rayonier 

12pm               Buffet Lunch

1:30                Brainstorming / Planning / Working Group

We’ll split into groups to brainstorm aspects of program development and management, desired goals and outcomes, and implementation specifics.

3:00                 Wrap-up and Adjourn

Operational Lidar Inventory Meeting – April 9

8:30 am Building Opens / Coffee Available

8:55 – 9:10 am Welcome and Introduction (Jacob Strunk, USFS)

9:10 – 9:35 am Estimation of Wildfire Biomass Consumption with Digital Aerial Photogrammetry (Bryce Frank, USFS)

9:35 – 10 am Estimation of Site Index from Bi-Temporal Lidar Data (Dan Opalach, FBRI)

10 – 10:15 am Break

10:15 – 10:45 am Site Index Discussion (Breakout Groups)

10:45 – 11:10 am Drone Multispectral Point Cloud Based Fire Severity Mapping (Jonathan Batchelor, UW)

11:10 – 11:35 am Terrestrial, Mobile, and Aerial Lidar Comparison for Alaska Forest Inventory (Rachel Deininger, PFC-UW)

11:35 am – 12 pm GNSS Accuracy (Jacob Strunk, USFS)

12 pm Lunch (provided)

12:45 – 1:10 pm Integrating NAIP 3D into Forest Structure and Composition Mapping (Dave Bell, USFS)

1:10 – 1:35 pm Lidar Tree Canopy Cover Normalization (Demetrios Gatziolis, USFS)

1:35 pm Break

1:50 – 2:15 pm Tree- and Forest-Level Fuels from Lidar (Mike Parlow and Cam Brown, Forsite)

2:15 – 2:50 pm Fuels / Fire Severity Discussion (Breakout Groups)

2:50 – 3:15 pm Dealing with Species in Canada Projects (Ian Moss, ForesTree)

3:15 pm Break

3:30 – 3:55 pm Large-Area Forest Census with MLS (Eli Jensen, Ironwood Forestry)

3:55 – 4:20 pm Geiger-Mode Lidar Redux: Canopy Penetration, Stem Segmentation, and Measurement (Ed Flathers, UIdaho)

4:20 – 4:30 pm Wrap-up and Closing (Jacob Strunk, USFS)

Growth Model User’s Group Meeting – April 10

09:00 – 09:30 am  Logistics and Introductions

• • Moderator, Weikko Jaross (LandVest)
  • Venue – Western Forestry and Conservation Association – Nicole Jacobsen
  • Introductions

9:30 – 10:30 am    Panel Discussion The challenges and opportunities with “No Tree Left Behind”

GMUG 2024 engages luminaries of growth modeling and trailblazers of inventory modeling to discuss the past, present, and future of growth modeling. Invited participants include:

Mark Castle (USFS – FVS Group)

Greg Johnson (GJ Biometrics, LLC)

Dan Opalach (FBRI)

Aaron Weiskittel (University of Maine)

Ben Rice (Midgard Natural Resources)

David Marshall (Biometrician Emeritus)

Jacob Strunk (USFS)

Bruce Ripley (University of Idaho)

10:30 am – 12:00 pm (3)           Growth Model Updates (30-Minutes Each)

Forest Projection System: FBRI Updates – Dan Opalach (Forest Biometrics Research Institute) Dan and the FBRI team have been busy with publishing and applied research projects with promising applications. Dan will review FBRI accomplishments in 2023 and important FPS developments in the works.

FVS – Mark Castle (Forest Vegetation Simulator Group, USFS)

The FVS Group focused on training and support in 2023. Mark will give us an update of the group’s staffing, trends in their services, and their aspirations for 2024 and beyond.

Refitting FVS diameter growth equations across multiple ecoregions (David Diaz, UofW)

The Forest Vegetation Simulator currently employs a diverse variety of growth equations for each tree species in each ecoregion. David will discuss the opportunity to simplify and consolidate FVS diameter growth equations along with methods to fit them simultaneously across regions by feeding FIA data to a hierarchical Bayesian state-space model.

12:00 – 1:00 pm    Lunch (Hosted)

Center for Advanced Forestry Systems-CAFS Nathaniel Naumann (PotlatchDeltic)

Nathaniel, Co-Chair of CAFS Industry Advisory Board will provide an overview of the program and call for national level collaborations in research and development.

1:00 – 2:30 pm (3)  Data Processing Tools, Model I/O (30-minute each)

TreeMap, FIA, and FVS. Rachel Houtman (USFS Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory). This talk explores TreeMap as a spatially-explicit model of carbon biomass.  Using the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest as a case example, TreeMap identifies the most-similar FIA plots for each 30m pixel. FVS can then be used to project carbon biomass from FIADB and remap these results to their correlated pixels with TreeMap.

A stand-level evaluation of FVS growth projections for a LiDAR Forest inventory – Jacob Strunk, (US Forest Service) and Peter Gould (Mason Bruce & Girard). Jacob or Peter will present their Savannah River Site project in South Carolina where they applied a kNN imputation of field plots to LiDAR to produce a tree list type inventory for growth modeling. They compare their results of FVS modeling using the LiDAR vs. Field plot inputs to FVS.

Developing Tree Lists for REGEN3 – Bernard Issacson (USFS Southern Research Station)

Using BigMap and field plots, Bernard is investigating methods for producing tree lists inputs to REGEN3 and FVS in the USFS Northern and Southern regions.

Open Discussion:  Data Processing, Q&A (Weikko Jaross Moderator)

2:30 – 2:45 pm   Break

2:45 – 3:45 pm (2)  Topics of Interest (30-Minutes Each)

Acadian Model – Greg Johnson (GJ Biometrics LLC)

The Acadian Region of Maine is characterized by extensively managed naturally regenerated forests comprised of mixed species and multicohort structures in a complex of topography, soil parent material, and climatic zones. Greg’s will provide a sneak peek into updating the underlying models of the Acadian growth model.

CIPSANON Updates– Doug Mainwaring (Center for Intensive Planted-forest Silviculture)

Doug and crew have been busy in the field and lab this year. Doug will brief us on updates and the future for CIPSANON.

3:45 – 4:00 pm Closing & Wrap-up (Weikko Jaross Moderator)

• • Words from our GMUG 2024 sponsor (LandVest)
  • Feedback on agenda and venue
  • Growth Model Run-Off (HJ Andrews Experimental State Forest dataset)
  • When next to meet again?

The meeting will once again be held at Granlibakken Tahoe (we were there in 1997).

Sunday, June 16

Monday, June 17

Tuesday, June 18

Thursday, March 21 

7:30am   Coffee and Check-in

8-10am   Morning Presentations, Block 1

10-10:30am   Morning Break & Snacks

10:30am-12pm   Morning Presentations, Block 2

12pm-1pm   Lunch (provided)

1-2:30pm   Scribner Panel

2:30-3pm   Afternoon Break & Snacks

3-5pm   SSMART 1—6  (20 min each)

5pm   Wrap-up & Field-trip Logistics

5:10pm  Adjourn

Friday, March 22

  Field Trip 

Meet in Corvallis at 8:00 am. (Location still being determined)

Field trip stops:

Starker Forest thinning site with operations by Miller Timber Services cut to length system.

OSU Research Forest Stand Density Trials. Visit stands planted from approximately 100 to 1200 trees per acres. Established in the 1990’s some stands have started self-thinning.

OSU box lunches provided on field trip.

Return to meeting spot around 2:00 pm.

PROCEEDINGS

• Incorporating risk in economic density management decision-making (Greg Latta)
• Simulated yield and financial implications of different density regimes (Doug Mainwaring)
• Towards site-specific density management regimes in the PNW, and beyond (Mike Premer)
• Effects of thinning to varying residual densities on drought resistance, drought resilience, and wood production in Douglas-fir (Matt Powers)
• New logging technology for thinning (Preston Green)
  Drivers of site-specific controls on carrying capacity (Mark Kimsey)
• Discussion panel on Scribner scaling (Matt Mattioda)
• Presentations on cutting edge research in forest restoration, supply chain custody, worker safety, and realized material value (SSMART Forestry Group)

Stand Density Management Workshop Program

All times are CENTRAL DAYLIGHT TIME ZONE

Monday, July 22 

1:00 – 5:00  Auburn Co-op meeting (open to current members of the nursery co-op only)

4:00 – 8:00  Registration (open to all conference attendees)

6:00 – 8:00  Icebreaker

Tuesday, July 23

7:00 – 8:00 am  Continental breakfast (in meeting room)

8:00 am    Housekeeping and welcomes from State Forester Kyle Cunningham and Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward.

Carbon markets

8:30 am    U.S. Reforestation Program Director, The Nature Conservancy: Carbon credit markets in the southern U.S. – Jason Milks

9:00 am    Forests and the Global Carbon Markets – Richard W. Hall, President, Buckhead Resources, Inc

9:30 am    Natural Resource Conservation Service landowner assistance programs – Doug Akin, State Forester

10:00 am    Morning break

Hardwood seed

10:30 am    Hardwood genetic improvement for Arkansas – Fred Raley, Tree Improvement Coordinator, Texas A&M Forest Service and Director, Western Gulf Forest Tree Improvement Program

11:00 am    Partnerships make a difference in our lives – Luke Lewis, Arkansas Fish and Game

11:30 am    The challenges of meeting hardwood seed needs for the southern U.S. – Gary Delaney, Louisiana forest and seed

12:00 pm    Lunch

Labor issues

1:00 pm    The State’s voice of forestry – Seth Stephenson, Communications Coordinator, Arkansas Forestry Association

1:30 pm    Labor issues in nurseries – navigating the maze and staying on the right side of the law – Wendel Hall, Managing Partner, Hall Global

2:00 pm    Discussion time on labor issues

2:30 pm    Afternoon break

Forest Health issues

3:00 pm    Emerging forest health issues in Arkansas – Chandler Barton, Division Forester Arkansas Department of Agriculture

3:30 pm    Brown spot needle blight in the southeast – Rabiu Olatinwo, Research Plant Pathologist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service

4:00 pm    Hardwood tree research update – Josh Granger, Assistant Professor, Mississippi State University

4:30 pm    Sedges and herbicide trial at Baucum – Nina Payne, Forester, and James Shelton, Nursery Manager

Dinner on your own

Wednesday, July 24: field tour

7:30 – 8:30 am    Breakfast ON YOUR OWN

8:30 – 9:00 am    Board buses and drive to nursery (drive time approximately 20 minutes)

9:00 – 11:30    Tour of Baucum nursery

11:30 – 1 pm    LUNCH. Short bus trip to Faulker orchard and events center

1:00 – 4:00 pm    Afternoon tour to Burns Park

4:00 – 4:30 pm    Return to hotel

6:00 – 9:00 pm    Banquet at Robinson Center (attached to Hotel)

Thursday, July 25

Updates: Reforestation Nurseries and Genetic Resources (RNGR) team, white oak, farm bill, agroforestry.

7:00 – 8:00 am    Continental breakfast (in meeting room)

8:00 am    Farm bill update – Tim Foley, Policy Director, Southern Group of State Foresters

8:30 am    RNGR team expansion – Carrie Pike, Regeneration Specialist and Emily Rhoades, Nursery Specialist U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service

8:45 am    Southern Forest Nursery Management Cooperative updates – Annakay Newell, Interim Director

9:00 am    Bipartisan Infrastructure bill updates for State and Federal nurseries (virtual) – Sara Wilson, Nursery and Reforestation Specialist U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service

9:30 am    Update on the white oak tree improvement effort (virtual) – Laura DeWald, Tree Improvement Specialist

10:00 am    Morning break

10:30 am    Effects of lifting season warm interruptions – Alex Hoffman, Weyerhaeuser

11:00 am    Agroforestry — growing opportunities in the Southern United States (virtual) – Anne Marsh, Director; Gary Bentrup, Research Landscape Planner; and Matt Smith, Research Team Leader, National Agroforestry Center

11:30 am    Research and agroforestry update – Ron Revord, Assistant Research Professor, University of Missouri

Noon: adjourn

Lunch on your own – safe travels!

The recordings (green buttons below) are password protected and all paid attendees will receive an email with the password to view the recordings. PDF’s of the presentations (green links below) are open to view.

8:00     Introduction to WR.COFE & Seminar

8:15     Grapple Yarding

Grapple carriage productivity studies – Hunter Harrill, Cal Poly Humboldt (Harrill Presentation PDF)

Tigercat Guyless 180 swing yarder case study – Tom & Anthony Ireland, Cascade West Inc. (Ireland Presentation PDF)*

Live anchor system for skyline systems – Dan Clark, Weyerhaeuser (Clark Presentation PDF)*

9:45     Sponsor Update

9:55     Break (Refreshments Provided)

10:25   Sponsor Update

10:35   Economics and Future Outlook

PNW economic outlook – Matt Bliss, Roseburg Resources (Bliss Presentation PDF)

Versatility of CTL, operational and landowner perspectives – Chris Melcher, Melcher Logging and Joe Schaefer, Cascade Timber Consulting (Melcher & Schaefer Presentation PDF)

Motor carrier regulations in Oregon – Jason Lawrence, Oregon Dept of Transportation (Lawrence Presentation PDF)

11:50   Sponsor Update

12:00   Lunch

12:30   Announcements: Jerry Sedlak Memorial Scholarship

• Student scholarship winner introductions
• Ticket Raffle

1:30     Mechanized fire line construction

Mechanized fire line construction: Getting down in the ashes – Matthew Mattioda, Miller Timber Services (Mattioda Presentation PDF)

Contracting Fire Equipment: VIPR (Virtual Incident Procurement) – Jason Brandt, USDA Forest Service (Brandt Presentation PDF)

2:30     Sponsor Update

2:45     Break (Refreshments Provided)

3:00     Transportation on public roads

 Motor carrier regulations in Oregon – Ray Bottenberg, Oregon Dept. of Transportation (Bottenberg Presentation PDF)

Public road posting, permitting, and progress– Tiffany Netz, Douglas County (Netz Presentation PDF)

4:00     Wrap Up and adjourn

*The original presentation includes video(s), please view the recording to see the included videos.

Tuesday, September 27

Moderator: Diane Haase, USDA Forest Service, Portland, OR

9:45 Welcome and introductions

10:00 Increasing the Flow of the Reforestation Pipeline: It’s Going to Be Plumb Crazy! – Kas Dumroese, USDA Forest Service, Moscow, ID

10:30 Pipeline Keynote: Seeds – It All Starts With Seed: Strengthening the Reforestation Pipeline in the Western U.S. – Olga Kildisheva, The Nature Conservancy, Bend, OR

11:15 National Seed Strategy: Progress and Future Vision – Peggy Olwell, USDI Bureau of Land Management, Boise, ID

11:45 Strategic Seed Management to Meet Reforestation Needs – Kayla Herriman, USDA Forest Service, Bend Seed Extractory, Bend, OR

12:15 LUNCH (provided)

1:00 Field trip to Great Bear Restoration Nursery, Hamilton, MT. (Transportation provided)

Great Bear Native Plants is a small, women-owned nursery specializing in growing Rocky Intermountain West containerized native plants. They have experience growing over 300 native shrub, grass, forb, and tree species for restoration, habitat, and home gardens. They are located in Hamilton, Montana near the base of the Bitterroot Mountains.

5:00 Arrive back at hotel

Wednesday, September 28

Moderator: Andrew Nelson, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID

8:30 Pipeline Keynote: Nurseries – Establishing a Sustainable Seedling Supply: Economic, Environmental and Social Challenges for Nurseries – Nabil Khadduri, Washington DNR Webster Nursery, Olympia, WA

9:15 Pipeline Keynote: Outplanting – Considerations for Outplanting Practices in the Western U.S.: An Account of its Past, Present, and Future – Matthew Aghai, DroneSeed and Silvaseed, Roy, WA

10:00 Flathead Indian Reservation’s Biocultural Restoration for Whitebark Pine – ShiNaasha Pete, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Pablo, MT

10:30 BREAK

10:45 Student presentations:

• Drought Resistance and Frost Tolerance of Redwood Clones – Amy Kronsberg, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
  Amy Kronsberg Presentation PDF
• Intraspecific Root Traits Variability of Western Larch’ Seedlings in Response to Drought – Vovener Edmond, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID
  Vovener Edmond Presentation PDF
• Interior Douglas-fir: Investigating Latitudinal Differences in Seedling Drought Tolerance – Sarah Larson, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID
  Sarah Larson Presentation PDF

11:15 Nursery Drought Conditioning and Genetic Effects of Douglas-fir Seedlings Growing in Three Sites in Western Oregon – Carlos Gonzalez, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

11:45 Seedling Carbon and Water Balances: Do They Limit Cold Storage Duration? – Rebecca Sheridan, Weyerhaeuser Company, Centralia, WA

12:15 LUNCH (provided)

1:00 Field trip to Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Forestry Greenhouse, Polson, MT, (Transportation provided)

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal nursery program operates in two locations on the Flathead Reservation north of Missoula. The Ronan location specializes in containerized native plants that include forbs, perennials, graminoids, shrubs, and broadleaved tree species. The Pablo nursery location currently focuses containerized production on seven different conifer species. The CSKT grow reforestation and restoration seedlings for their programs as well as for other tribes, public agencies, and the private sector.

5:00 Event dinner and Retiree Recognition (included with registration)

8:00 Arrive back at hotel

Thursday, September 29

Moderator: Jeremy Pinto, USDA Forest Service, Moscow, ID

8:30 Pipeline Keynote: Post-Planting Care – The Finish Line: Post-Planting Activities Improving Reforestation Success – Florian Deisenhofer, Washington DNR, Vancouver, WA

9:15  Policy and Funding Opportunities for Reforestation and Nursery Support – Danielle Okst, Council of Western State Foresters, Edgewater, CO

9:45 Typical and Non-Typical Outplanting Practices Used on Forest Service Lands in the Intermountain West – Ellen Jungck, USDA Forest Service, Missoula, MT

10:15 BREAK

10:30 Student presentations:

• Effects of Canopy Cover on Near-Surface Temperatures: Implications for Seedling Growth and Performance – Amanda Brackett, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
  Amanda Brackett Presentation PDF
• kitahkinaani ‘Our Garden’ – Kayla Allen, Miami University, Oxford OH
• Creating Culturally Relevant Pathways to Reforestation for Indigenous Youth – Susannah Howard, State University of New York (SUNY), Albany, NY

11:00 Enhancing Interior Douglas-fir and Western Larch Seedling Growth with Post-Planting Forb Control – Andrew Nelson, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID

11:30 Closing remarks

11:45 LUNCH (on your own)

12:30 Tour at Montana Conservation Seedling Nursery, Missoula, MT. (optional tour, attendees responsible for transportation)

The Montana Conservation Seedling Nursery is part of the Montana DNRC mission is to provide plants for conservation projects that occur throughout the State of Montana. The nursery provides bareroot and containerized stock derived from locally adapted and source-identified seed. Seedlings are grown for private landowners; county conservation districts; government agencies; conservation organizations; and the forestry industry.

2:30 Meeting ends