Free Post Week 8

For this week’s free post I would just like to further elaborate on the importance of communication in the forestry field because of the amount of work outdoors in the actual “field”. I am really starting to notice the variation and percentage of error that comes from the measurements in this field. Professional DNR workers are expected to have accuracy and precision up to a certain percentage every time they take measurements. This brings forth the idea of an average or standard way of taking measurements.

It is important for all foresters of all parts of forestry to have acceptable terms of measuring trees so data can be relayed accurately. Trees can grow in odd ways and each tree can have multiple ways to be measured. I notice this in almost every lab and this understanding and greater vision of forests in general has come along with my first semester at MSU as a forestry major. I’m starting to look at trees in a different way. Without a standard of measuring trees, data could be off by a large percentile and can lead to decreased efficiency of usage of our forests resources.

In one of my classes this week I was shown a graph on the measurements of professional forester’s and the majority of these foresters underestimated the amount of biomass in a tree. This can prove costly as valuable resources are going to waste in an era of America that is focused on conservation and preservation in general. This has always been a goal in forestry, forest management, but as forestry emerges in America today the importance of this can be better recognized and understood by Americans already doing things like recycling. Perfect measurements make sure that logging companies are using all the possible timber from a forest cut and the task of ensuring this falls upon foresters.

So again there is that communication from foresters that are the key to effectiveness of preserving forests by using everything that is cut from. I’m starting to have a better understanding of the importance of good data and good measurements. This is something that has been presented in my classes at Michigan State and communicated in all my lectures and readings. Something that should really be stressed because it can only values everyone by protecting the planet.