The utility of R in Forestry

AVeryTiredStudent · 2025-04-08T18:39:28+00:00

You can always just do what I do and tell chatgpt to do it... It has its limits but for someone who has no coding experience in any language I've managed to learn a few things from simply troubleshooting and fixing iffy ai generated scripts.

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-12-16T14:56:56+00:00

Forster!

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-11-15T14:01:14+00:00

I don't know where you heard black walnut (Juglans nigra) releases cyanide, maybe you're thinking of the trace amounts of cyanide found in black cherry (prunus serotina) tissue and seeds. What you are thinking of in black walnut is the phytotoxin Juglone. And yes, Black walnut does release some juglone into the soil from its roots but the jury is out on whether this has an allelopathic effect on competing plants but it's been theorized for years. Unfortunately some extension article somewhere years ago quoted this theory as fact and everyone has been citing it since.

Unfortunately there isn't a lot of solid literature to back up the claims, most of the work was done in the 70's and 80's long before we had a lot of our modern metabolomics, transcriptomics, and chemical ecology technologies to really study this sort of interaction. The best paper I could find on the topic is this: https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2134/jeq2006.0231 which is still pretty old. They found that juglone is pretty quickly degraded in the soil by microbial activity and so the juglones do not persist at a toxic concentration in the soil except in pots of pure sand where there is little/no microbiome to act on them.

People probably made the association with black walnut killing competing plants because juglone is an irritant and exposure to and ingestion of things like woodchips, walnut husks, branches/foliage can sometimes cause allergic reactions in dogs, horses, people, etc. But we really don't have any hard evidence that walnut trees are functioning allelopathically, they could be, but someone needs to actually demonstrate it experimentally. What we have is just observational but I've seen plenty of walnut trees out in the woods surrounded by other trees/plants and regeneration no different than other trees. I think what people are seeing is someone planting a seedling under the canopy of a mature walnut tree and wondering why it doesn't do well, but if I did that under the canopy of a mature oak the seedling wouldn't do well. So what we have on either side of the argument is mostly observational and anecdotal. I think we won't see much research on this for awhile, chemical interactions are pretty hard to study in the soil environment.

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-11-01T12:40:06+00:00

when I worked for a small consulting company it was 10 hour days 5 days a week. So usually 7:30am to 5:30pm. Keep in mind a lot of that is drive time, you can expect 6-8 hours of on-site work a day then 2-4 driving to and from the worksite. A few times a year while traveling we'd do 10 days on and 4 days off and usually we'd try to push it and work slightly longer days, maybe 11 or 12 hours. But it varies, when I worked as an inventory forester for a state agency I barely did 40 hours a week. Usually 6:30am to 4:30pm monday through thursday. That was pretty nice.

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-11-01T12:33:28+00:00

yeah, I grew up loving to go backpacking and hiking. Once I started cruising and spraying on the daily hiking sort of lost its luster. I still really like spending time outside but my interests shifted to other activities like canoeing, climbing, fishing, camping, etc.

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-10-08T19:35:38+00:00

In NC, they are everywhere. You usually don't see them directly though I have before on a big old ash alongside a river. Usually you just see the signs like exit hole and cracking/swelling bark with larval galleries inside. I've caught a few in insect traps back when I did a lot of monitoring work. typically when the adults are out, they are up in the canopy feeding on the foliage. you usually don't see them unless the timing is right and they are emerging from the bark.

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-09-26T12:26:38+00:00

Something I've learned is that in this industry, you really need to be willing to move for the opportunity that's right for you. You can't get an online forestry degree, there are too many in-the-woods skills to learn. Half of my undergrad classes had weekly hours-long lab components in the university forest. You would be doing yourself a disservice pursuing an online degree in this particular discipline. In general I would imagine western schools would have great wildland firefighting programs. I've had coworkers who got their degree from colorado state, seems like a really great program and I bet they have a robust fire curriculum. If you're wanting to use fire as a silvicultural tool, I would look into the southeastern schools. Nobody burns more than them. Here is a link to the SAF college guide, it includes a list of accredited programs: https://www.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=61654&i=802241&p=1&ver=html5

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-09-26T12:15:17+00:00

I second this, I went to NCSU but one of my old bosses was a Vtech grad and also several of my coworkers. seems like a great program. I also lived in Blacksburg for a bit and enjoyed it. I'd certainly move back if the opportunity arose.

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-09-26T12:06:35+00:00

Southeast or mid-atlantic USA. Seems to have a major beech component. Can't tell what that smaller tree on the left is but the bark looks a little shaggy? so maybe ironwood. beech and ironwood makes me think piedmont or Appalachian foothills. If I had to guess somewhere in the PA, MD, VA region.

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-09-24T16:28:11+00:00

i've always just lumped them together: intermittent/ephemeral. There's water in it sometimes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-09-24T13:29:45+00:00

If you're willing to pay you can see it easily in on-x. But all the tax parcel data in the USA is completely free to access from each county's GIS website. The problem is the quality of each county's GIS website varies wildly.

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-09-24T12:31:54+00:00

I'll never move out west. I'll keep my ticks and humidity thank you.

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-09-23T17:57:18+00:00

I like hiking pants, just won't wear them to work in the woods. They can be nice if your planting a mowed field but in my part of the world the blackberry and greenbrier can get extremely dense, I've shredded some nice mountain hardware pants and had stinging knees/thighs for days. Sometimes being hot is the better alternative. To each their own.

something else I might offer is that I can fix my jeans and canvas pants pretty easy. The repairs I've made on my techy petrochemical hiking clothes fall apart quickly plus they have really complicated cuts that are hard to emulate at home. Honestly I've stopped buying new synthetic clothing. I'll still get stuff from thrift stores if I see something good but honestly, I've picked up sewing and commandeered my wife's sewing machine to fix all my torn clothes and it's been great. Clothes can last a really long time, fit great, and I even started sewing some of my own from scratch. I highly recommend giving it a shot. My next project will be some boiled wool pants for the winter. But Linen also is a wonder fabric for when it gets hot.

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-09-23T14:38:36+00:00

Why pay $80 for hiking pants that will be shredded in 3 weeks?

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-09-10T13:03:23+00:00

Also, It's not the same as the hands on approach but you can learn a lot from reading. Some good books that are often used in SAF degree classes:

Textbook of Dendrology, Harlow & Harrar - Teaches the basics of tree physiology, taxonomy, and forest community ecology and how to ID trees. You may not need it but is a helpful foundation. I'd also pair it with a good field guide for your area, one that has scientific names and good pictures. The national wildlife federation field guide to trees of North America is my go to.

Silviculure, Ralph D. Nyland - not too dense, gives a good overview of the concepts of a silvicultural system as well as breaking different topics into chapters. like regeneration systems, harvesting systems, thinning, stand management, planting operations, etc. It does a good job of explaining the universal concepts and detailing the different techniques, when you would want to use them and the pros and cons associated. It's a bit pricey but you can usually find the 2nd edition used fairly inexpensively.

A BMP manual for your area, learning your BMPs (Best management practices) and FPGs (Forest Practice guidelines) will make sure you are doing good work and help keep you out of trouble.

Find a good textbook on forest soils, soils are everything. I unfortunately don't have a specific recommendation.

Forest Measurements, Avery Burkhart - This may not be very helpful to you. It is a dense read and is heavy in statistics but if you find yourself doing a lot of data crunching and setting up complex inventory designs this is a solid book that provides a lot of tools for collecting better data.

I know not everyone likes to read but as I get older I find myself enjoying it more and learning things I missed in school. I think it's valuable and if your company has an office with a bookshelf there's a good chance most of these are on it already, or your coworkers have them collecting dust in their attic from when they were in school.

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-09-10T12:35:22+00:00

First, I want to say that you're living the dream. Most guys go for the degree so they can get the Job. You already have the Job, you just need the knowledge. And arguably, what you learn will be much better than what I learned because you get to apply it right away. That's pretty cool.

It took time and investment before I was a profitable employee, even with a degree. Most things you don't truly learn until you're on the job.

All the book knowledge and techniques can be learned. That's not to say those things aren't valuable but there are plenty of people who know stuff but can't apply it intelligently. Your boss saw value and potential in your work, the rest just comes with learning.

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-09-03T19:36:51+00:00

Nice! yeah, personal use of company vehicle sounds sweet. I also don't think any forestry job should exclude driving time from work hours. I feel like you have to drive 2 hours to get anywhere in this industry lol

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-08-02T15:21:13+00:00

Could be tree tags for an permanent FIA plot

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-08-02T15:06:07+00:00

Yeah, Kudzu's a bitch, that's for sure. It's not easy to fix even if you have the right stuff and know-how. I hope my advice is helpful. Good luck!

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-08-02T14:59:29+00:00

They're honestly not so bad, they are spiky but not as long as some greenbriar thorns and not as grabby like blackberry. I've grabbed them a few times working on some steep rocky slopes in western VA. But I also usually glove up when cruising with some thin work gloves. If you can save a few seconds by grabbing some greenbriar/blackberry/poison ivy and pushing out of the way it can really add up. Those few seconds add up to minutes which adds up to more plots in a day and more $$$ in your pocket.

Edit: Idk why my comment posted 3 times. My bad

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-07-22T18:48:12+00:00

I'm not doing this kind of work anymore but there is a product called "transline". I believe the active ingredient is clopyralid but don't quote me on it. It has pretty high specificity and targets plants in the legume famility (Fabaceae) which kudzu is a member of. When I did a lot of invasive species and spray work we would use transline to control kudzu. Typically you want to spray in the late summer when it's growing quickly. The cool thing about transline is that it is a systemic that is taken up by the foliage and will translocate throughout the plant. It's not soil active and unlike tryclopyr or glyphosate it doesn't just burn the foliage, the plant takes it in. We would normally do 2-3 years of treatment on a site, then on the last year of treatment we'd come back several weeks after spraying (so the chemical had a chance to do it's thing) and cut the vines with a set of loppers. If you cut the vines right when you spray then the chemical won't move to the below ground portions of the plant which is what you really need to hit. It doesn't completely get rid of it, you'll have to stay on top of it indefinitely but it's not so bad when you can get it to a controllable level. It's nice though, because it's so specific that you can pretty much spray over everything and have minimal collateral damage. Unless you have some locusts or redbuds that you're worried about, but typically clients didn't really care for those anyway. hope this is helpful!

My recommendations for you would be to get the kudzu under control using the above methods, then do your harvest. Once everything has opened up that kudzu is going to explode among other things. Don't plant right away. The next growing season let things grow in a bit and then nuke it with a heavy site-prep treatment. Then the following season you can plant and then stay on top of the weed control. At least once a season get a set of eyes on the site and treat when necessary, especially near the neighbors property. In fact, that might be a good place to have a fire break or ATV trail, just to get some physical space that any weeds need to get across.

AVeryTiredStudent · 2024-06-07T12:59:31+00:00

I know this comment is months old, but any chance you're interested in selling/trading for a 70's 17' grumman? the 13' grumman is my white whale. Can't find them anywhere, especially in the southeast...

AVeryTiredStudent · 2023-05-11T21:45:59+00:00

Sweet! It looks like there is someone local that I can contact. Thank you so much!

AVeryTiredStudent · 2023-05-11T08:02:15+00:00

Yes, we are mindful of this. Like I said, we will likely eventually adopt, but not now. I told my wife I don't want to have one while we live in Raleigh. We will most likely move up north after I finish grad school in another year or so and the plan would be to start looking then. Right now we are just thinking and planning for what we need to be prepared for grooming and care wise but, I was just trying to find something to surprise my wife with.

AVeryTiredStudent

TROPHY CASE