10 hour days, four days a week. A typical day in the Chippewa National Forest goes from 0600 to 1630 with a 30-minute lunch break somewhere around noon. Mornings are generally a little rough as I’ve yet to get my 2130 bedtime down but the three-day weekends more than make up for it. With Friday-Sunday of every week off I have the potential to explore Minnesota and honestly get a lot of sleeping in. As with past internships I’m without a car so anything further than walking or biking distance is reliant on the other seasonals who are all generous fellas.
Office days are messy days
I’m mostly working with the timber division this summer but I’ll have the opportunity to learn about other crews within the Blackduck Ranger District (RD). Our office, which is shared with Minnesota’s DNR, is located on the west side of town right off Highway 71. A little over two dozen folks work out of the Blackduck RD while less than 800 people inhabit the town.
Washed out culvert delays timber cruising
Timber cruising is the act of collecting field data on the volume and values of trees within a sale unit. I’ll try not to go into too much detail but there are multiple ways to mark a sale. One major plan is to mark trees to be cut and another is to mark trees to leave. Our crew marks sample trees that qualify to be cut within a plot. From plot center we use a cruising prism with a 10 basal area factor (10 square feet/acre) that determines whether or not a tree is “in”. You look through the prism with one eye closed to check each individual tree. Trees are “in” when the offset segment is still connected to the tree as shown below. “In” trees are marked with a dot of spray paint so we don’t have to commit each tree to memory.
Some tools of the trade. The bottle measures 4.3″ in diameter
Marked trees are measured with a diameter tape at breast height (DBH) which is standardized at 4.5 feet above the ground. The diameter tape has two sides- one is regular measurements of inches and feet while the other is in elongated inches(increments are 1/10th of an inch) that allows the tape to be wrapped around the tree at DBH to get its diameter.
Jarrod uses a clinometer
We then measure height by standing 33 feet from the tree and using a clinometer which is a nifty sighting tool. The number we get needs to be divided in half since our clinometer is meant for a distance of 66 feet (66 feet=1 chain) away but in these woods underbrush keeps the sight distance from getting far. Clinometers are used with both eyes open- one eye with the clinometer right up to it and the other to see tree base and top. Once finished recording tree species, height, DBH, and any deformities we move on to the next plot and repeat.
Zack in cruising gear
However due to various factors like the insane amount of mosquitoes (heightened because of the unseasonal storms) and frustrating underbrush like hazel, most of the cruising in the Blackduck RD is done either in the spring or fall/winter. Our supervisor Corey is said to be a machine in the winter and gets through plots like none other. He’s of the belief that cruising in the summer has a lower quality of records since workers tend to rush through measurements in an attempt to escape the bugs, which I whole heartedly support.
Since there’s not a lot cruising going on most of our summer will be focused on stocking surveys. In the forest folks return to sites that have been harvested at one, three, and five-year intervals to record how recovery is going. There are predetermined points within a plot and the number of points is determined by the size of the plot. From plot center someone runs out 11’8″ of tape (=1/100th of an acre) and records all the saplings within that span. Saplings are corded at 0 inch diameter, 0.5 inch diameter, and so on up to 4 inches. Anything beyond 4 inches in diameter is no longer considered a sapling. When finished recording saplings, a prism is used to determine “in” trees and those are noted as well. It’s of utmost importance to record latitude and longitude for future reference in addition to using GPS units. These are plots that have NOT been planted and have regenerated naturally. The amount of greenery in these plots have been astonishing to me.
Carhartts dry faster than you think
On the side we’ve also done a few stake rows which take place in planted sites. With a GPS you head out to a plot looking for specific species and flag 10 of each. Save the location on the GPS for each species about the middle of the 10 flags. Species we’re typically looking for are white pine, jack pine, red pine, white spruce, black spruce, tamarack, among several others. Crews in the future will use the GPS to refer back to the points and check on the conditions of the planted trees.
Stake rows
My uniform consists of boots, Carhartts, t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, timber cruising vest, hard hat, and most importantly a mosquito net. We’ve been fortunate enough to have windy days that kept the bugs at bay but the mosquito nets might be the only thing saving my sanity at times. I recently received forest service approved pants and a polo but they feel a lot more office-y than field apparel. The next upcoming weeks we’ll be cranking out stocking surveys as they’re due late August and most of the seasonals depart around mid-August for college. Here’s to good weather, less mosquitoes, and tick free days.
Nice try ya little blood sucker
Pacific Northwest meets Minnesota 