2018 Western Mensurationists Meeting

Agenda
Start Date: June 17, 2018
Location: High Country Conference Center, NAU, Flagstaff, AZ

All general sessions will be held in the 1899 Ballroom (Building 58 on the NAU Campus Map), directly south of the Drury Hotel and HCCC. Weather permitting, lunch will be served on the 1899 Patio.

Sunday June 17, 2018
Optional Field Tour (Ft Valley Experimental Forest and Grand Canyon Nat. Park)

  • 7:00 am – 7:30 am Travel to Ft Valley Experimental Forest (depart from the curb between the Drury and HCCC at 7:00am)
  • 7:30 am – 9:30 am Tour Ft Valley Experimental Forest and USFS/NAU Research Site(s)
  • 9:30 am – 11:00 am Travel to Grand Canyon Nat. Park
  • 11:00 am – 2:30 pm Tour South Rim of Grand Canyon Nat. Park and Grand Canyon Village
  • 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm Return Travel to Flagstaff

5:00 pm – 8:00 pm Registration Desk Open (HCCC Lobby/Fireplace)
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Ice Breaker Reception – appetizers and refreshments (Agassiz Meeting Room, HCCC)

Monday June 18, 2018
7:00 am – 8:30 am Buffet Breakfast (Foyer of 1899 Ballroom)
7:30 am – 8:30 am Registration Desk Open (HCCC Lobby/Fireplace)
8:30 am – 8:40 am Welcome – James Allen, Director, School of Forestry, No. Arizona University
Session 1 – Moderator: John Kershaw, Univ. of New Brunswick

  • 8:40 am – 9:05 am  Reginald T. Fay; Principal, Mason Bruce & Girard, Inc.: ¿Donde esta Pachaco? – An Accuracy Assessment of a Species Cover Map to Support Due Diligence.
  • 9:05 am – 9:30 am Jacob Strunk; Statistician, USDA Forest Service: FIA Inventory with Stereo DSMs
  • 9:30 am – 9:55 am Yung-Han Hsu; MSc Student, Univ. of New Brunswick: Sampling to Correct LiDAR Assisted Forest Inventory

9:55 am – 10:35 am Break – Refreshments and Snacks
Session 2 – Moderator: Phil Radtke, Virginia Tech

  • 10:35 am – 11:00 am Andrew Sánchez Meador; Assoc. Prof., No. Arizona Univ.: Using Remote Sensing and R to Reveal the Secrets of Powell Plateau, Grand Canyon Nat. Park
  • 11:00 am – 11:50 am Zack Parisa/James Arney; President, SilviaTerra/President, For. Biometrics Res. Institute: On the Evolution of the Stand and Strata

11:50 am – 1:20 pm Buffet Lunch (1899 Patio)
Session 3 (Flash Talks and Open Mic) – Moderator: A. Sánchez Meador, No. Arizona Univ.

  • 1:20 pm – 1:30 pm Dan Opalach; Biometrician, For. Biometrics Res. Institute: The Maximum Stand Density Index for Coast Redwood
  • 1:30 pm – 1:40 pm Martin Ritchie; Research Forester, USDA Forest Service: The standview R-Package for Generating Density Management Diagrams
  • 1:40 pm – 1:50 pm Sushil Nepal; Ph.D. Student, Univ. of British Columbia : Spatial Clustering to Depict Historical Stand Structure of Ponderosa Pine Stands in the Black Mountain Experimental Forest, California, USA
  • 1:50 pm – 2:00 pm Jeff Ricklefs; Forest Inventory Lead, Washington State DNR: Using LiDAR to Evaluate the Effects of Edges on the Growth of Young Forests
  • 2:00 pm – 2:10 pm Karin Kralicek; Ph.D. Student, Oregon State Univ.: On Differences in Double Sampling Estimators
  • 2:10 pm – 2:20 pm Mark Kimsey; Res. Asst. Prof., Univ. of Idaho: InventoryEDU: Bringing Forest Inventory Technology into the Classroom
  • 2:20 pm – 3:00 pm Open Mic – share your questions, comments, updates, ideas, etc.

3:00 pm – 3:30 pm Break – Refreshments and Snacks
Session 4 – Moderator: David Auty, No. Arizona Univ.

  • 3:30 pm – 3:55 pm John A. Kershaw; Prof., Univ. of New Brunswick : The Use of Mixture Distributions for Describing Stand Structure using Terrestrial LiDAR
  • 3:55 pm – 4:20 pm Ting-Ru, Yang; Ph.D. Student, Univ. of New Brunswick : Approaches to Estimating Diameter Distributions from Terrestrial and Airborne LiDAR via Copulas
  • 4:20 pm – 4:45 pm Bogdan Strimbu; Asst. Prof., Oregon State Univ.: Modeling in the Age of Big-Data and AI: The Loss of Beauty

6:00 pm – 9:00 pm Dinner (Agassiz & Fremont Meeting Room HCCC)

  •  6:00 pm Cash Bar opens prior to dinner
  •  6:45 pm Dinner is served
  •  8:50 pm Last call at the bar

Tuesday June 19, 2018
7:00 am – 8:30 am Buffet Breakfast (Foyer of the 1899 Ballroom)
Session 5 – Moderator: Bogdan Strimbu, Oregon State Univ.

  • 8:30 am – 8:55 am John Paul McTague; Mgr. G&Y Research, Rayonier: Effect of Seasonality on the Conversion Ratio of Green Weight to Scribner Board Foot Volume in the Pacific Northwest
  • 8:55 am – 9:20 am Mahadev Sharma; Research Scientist, Ontario For. Res. Institute: Modelling Site Productivity of Jack Pine and Black Spruce Natural Stands
  • 9:20 am – 9:45 am Damon Vaughan; Ph.D. Student, No. Arizona Univ.: Effect of Stand Basal Area on ponderosa Pine Wood Quality: Findings from a Replicated Density Experiment at Taylor Woods
  • 9:45 am – 10:10 am Wade Tinkham; Asst. Prof. Colorado State Univ.: Systematic Planting Trials for Assessing Growth and Resilience

10:10 am – 10:45 am Break – Refreshments and Snacks
Session 6 – Moderator: Peter Gould, Washington State DNR

  • 10:45 am – 11:10 am Dehai Zhao; Sr. Research Scientist, Univ. of Georgia: Strategies for Developing Additive Biomass Equations
  • 11:10 am -11:35 am Al Pancoast; MSc Student, Oregon State Univ.: Evaluation of Segmented Polynomial and Variable Exponent Taper Equations for Ponderosa Pine in Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington

11:35 am – 12:00 pm Business Meeting
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Buffet Lunch (1899 Patio)
1:00 pm Adjourn

About the Conference
Call for Abstracts:
The call for abstracts is open for the 2018 Western Mensurationists’ meeting in Flagstaff, Arizona on June 17 - 19, 2018. We are inviting individuals (or small panels) to submit abstracts for traditional talks and/or science flashes (short presentations to showcase emerging research or highlight unique/interesting ideas and applications). Flash talks will be limited to seven minutes and students are particularly encouraged to submit abstracts. While we are especially interested in abstracts focused on the themes of landscape-scale assessment/planning and data and information visualization, all submissions are welcome and potential topics include forest measurements, modeling, inventory, growth and yield, planning, analysis, etc.

The number of accepted submissions will be limited by the number of time slots scheduled, so please indicate your preference for a traditional or flash talk and email abstracts to: Andrew Sánchez Meador, andrew.sanchezmeador@nau.edu, by March 30, 2018.

Conference Location:
The 2018 Western Mensurationists Meeting will be held at the High Country Conference Center on NAU’s North Campus (the general session will be in the 1899 Ballroom) and the conference hotel will be the Drury Inn and Suites (next door) in Flagstaff, AZ. Maps of NAU and Flagstaff can be accessed here: Field Tour:
Field Tour Registration is closed (as of 6/5/18).
This year, we’re pleased to offer an optional field trip (limited to 40 participants) to the historical Fort Valley Experimental Forest headquarters, the first USDA Forest Service Experimental Forest in the US, and a (quick) tour of Grand Canyon Village and the south rim of the Grand Canyon National Park! This tour will take place Sunday, the 17th from 7:00am-4:00pm and participants will be back well before the evening reception begins. Information about Fort Valley and GCNP can be accessed here: Attractions:
In addition to the plentiful sunshine, Flagstaff offers many attractions including: Travel:
Visitors can fly directly into Flagstaff’s airport (FLG) or if time permits, they can fly into Phoenix (PHX) and drive/take a shuttle up (Saturday if you’re going on the field trip, Sunday otherwise). The drive is about 2-2.5 hrs on I-17 and essentially takes you through half of C. Hart Merriam’s life zones as the elevation increases…. Arizona Shuttle offers regular (albeit long) shuttle rides between various locations in flagstaff and the Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. Reservations can be made via their website.