Surveying Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is a wildlife tree?
Provide habitat for many animals and contribute to stand level biodiversity
Often large, old, veteran trees.
Can often pose safety concerns/risks
Has cavities or chimneys, heart rot, witches brooms, abnormal branching
What is the legislation in BC that works to protect wildlife trees?
Forwdt and Range Practices Act= can’t damage, alter, or destroy trees set aside for wildlife. Must be protected and retained.
What relies on wildlife trees?
80 bird species and 15% of the provinces, birds, mammals, and amphibians rely on them for food and shelter.
Supports 25% of all forest dwelling terrestrial vertebrates
What makes up the most important wildlife trees habitat features?
Snags, deciduous trees, and large veterans
How are wildlife trees formed?
There has to be some sort of decay either by biotic or abiotic factors such as:
Wind, frost, lightning, snow load, fire
Animal damage, insects, Fungal decay
What determines the value of a wildlife trees?
Most important features are height, diameter, decay stage, tree location, and tree mortality
What are the most valuable wildlife trees species?
1 Douglas fir ans larch
2 ponderosa pine
3 trembling aspen and cotton wood
4 cedars with hollow cavities
5 hemlocks and true firs
What features identify a wildlife tree?
Greater than 15m tall
Greater than 30cm dbh interior and 70cm dbh coastal
Wind firm, sound, root systems.
Important features:
Broken top, some remaining branches, some remaining bark, evidence of decay, cavities
How do we classify wildlife trees by their value
High = internal decay, sound firm shell, crevices present, large brooms, active and recent wildlife use, suitable tree structure (nesting, bear dens), largest tree for site, locally important wildlife tree species, favorable location for wildlife use
Medium = large, stable trees that will likely develop the above characteristic
Low = all other trees
What are the considerations wildlife tree classes
1 = perfectly healthy tree
2 = live tree starting to decay
3 = dead but still undecided, finely twigs, bark intact
4 = dead, no needles or fine twigs, larger limbs present, 50% branches lost, loose bark
5 = Most branches absent, some internal decay
6 = dead and lots it’s topped, 2/3rds it’s height
What is a danger tree?
A tree that is present in areas where people/workers are operating and recreating
Has unstable characteristics
Is determined to be hazardous by a qualified assessor
What makes a tree dangerous to a worker?
Lean and location
Physical damage
Overhead condition
Detiorating conditions of the tree
What is RPAS?
Remotely piloted aircraft survey
Anything greater than 250 grams requires a license
What are different rpas sensors?
LiDar = laser sensor, bounces between the ground and its reciever, based on distance and timing of laser travel it registers informations about height - topography, canopy height
10 band multispectrum = based on the color range detected tells us something, identifying tree species. Requires a data model to work but allows a large area to be covered, but can tell us species, forest health, and decay.
RGB = color camera, photogrammetry,
How does RPAS benefit surveying
High level of accuracy, while efficient, can be more accurate than ground based surveying, can be subject to glitches and technical errors.
Allows data collection in more remote or difficult access areas. Ground based data has limitations.
