Calculating Forest Values: Summarizing timber value by stand type and accessibility

Introduction

How valuable is the woodlot's standing timber, and how is that value distributed across types of trees and between accessible and inaccessible stands?

To answer these questions, you'll analyze the woodlot's inventory of stands, looking for amounts of sawlogs (pine, spruce, hemlock, white birch, tolerant hardwood) and pulpwood (spruce, fir, tolerant hardwood, intolerant hardwood). You'll use recent market prices for these products in compiling a summary of the value of broad stand types (softwood, hardwood, mixedwood).

Location

A small, 1,400 ha woodlot in the Acadian-New England forest region of North America

Time to complete the lab

3 hours

Prerequisites

A basic working knowledge of ArcGIS software and GIS data, including use of a geodatabase, and a basic working knowledge of Excel, including pivot table calculation. Some knowledge of computer programming, Visual Basic (VB) in particular, and some familiarity with forest inventory data and terminology is helpful but not essential.

Data used in this lab

Feature classes and rasters for a forest woodlot (personal geodatabase)

Geographic coordinate system: NAD 1983 CSRS New Brunswick Stereographic

Datum: NAD83 datum

Projection: New Brunswick Double Stereographic Grid (unless otherwise stated)