UFORE

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UFORE

• Project setup

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Project setup I

• The UFORE project process
• Decide on UFORE analysis
• Read the Manual
• Make project decisions
• Make data collection decisions
• Set budget, secure funding

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Project setup I

• Oversee data collection
• QA/QC (Manual!)
• Data integrity
• Analyze data
• Now Syracuse
• Future desktop application
• Create report
• Manual
• Automatic

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Project setup II

• Q1 Study area
• For what area are you seeking information?
• What area-wide questions are you trying to
  answer?
• Can the boundaries be clearly set?

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http//www.fs.fed.us/ne/syracuse/Pubs/Downloads/gt
rne287.pdf
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Project setup II

• Q2 Sampling type
• Random - plots are laid randomly throughout the
  area
• Grid - plots are laid on a fixed grid over area
• Randomized grid plots are laid randomly within
  grid cells that are spaced evenly across the
  area.

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Source http//www.epa.gov/nheerl/arm/siteselect/s
iteselexam2.htm
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Project setup II

• Q3 Plot number and size
• 30 low budget, high error
• Near 35, depending on parameter
• 100 medium budget, medium error
• Near 20, depending on parameter
• 200 high budget, low error
• Near 12, depending on parameter
• Choice depends on local budget and use
• Typically 0.1 acre circle (37.2 radius) in size,
  but other sizes possiblecheck Manual

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http//www.harc.edu/harc/Projects/CultivateGreen/D
ocuments/20051025PresentationMickeyMerritt.pdf
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Project setup II

• Q4 Options
• Long-Term Data
• Permanent plots take longer cost more
• Recommended b/c allow measuring change
• Ground Cover Types
• Local decision on importance
• Hard to calculate function or value
• Shrub Data
• Local decision on importance
• Apparently minor role, though research poor

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http//www.isd77.k12.mn.us/schools/dakota/mnriver/
Wetland20Type20620JPG.GIF
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Project setup II

• Q5 Sub-groups for stratification
• Significant sub-groups within frame of study
• Land-use supplies most UFORE strata
• Local data political (wards), organizational
  (neighborhoods), regulated units (zones), etc.
• National data NLCD
• http//www.mrlc.gov/mrlc2k_nlcd.asp
• Any other possible, as long as it carries a
  significant impact on distribution of data being
  collected.

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Project setup III

• Other project needs
• Digital boundary of study area (e.g., vector GIS
  file of city boundary)
• Digital boundaries of individual strata
  (digitized local maps or GIS layers)
• Logistical planning
• Equipment acquisition and training

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http//www.ci.rochester.mn.us/departments/citycoun
cil/wardmaps.asp
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Feeling
http//www.simplifiedsigns.org/thick.jpg
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Project setup III

• Plot generation
• Use one of methods discussed earlier
• Create master map of study area for planning
• Create individual ground maps for crew
• Make sure maps are
• Scaled
• North oriented
• Angle of view wide enough to locate reference
  points, narrow enough to see detail

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Data collection I

• Non-field data (from Syracuse)
• Meteorological data
• Temperature, wind, etc.
• Air pollution concentration data
• 2000 data
• Outside US, need to get own
• Boundary layer height measurements
• Local twice-daily measurement

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Data collection I

• Plot setup
• Use compass and measuring device to locate plot
  center from photo and/or map.
• Get permission to access property, if necessary.
• At plot center, establish references to permanent
  fixtures.
• Determine plot boundaries.
• Mark cardinal points.

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Data collection II

• Plot data
• Land use(s)
• Cover types, amounts
• Tree
• Shrub
• Plantable space
• Ground cover types, amounts
• Shrub types, amounts

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Data Collection II

• Tree data
• Note Tree any woody vegetation, except vine,
  
• with a DBH 1 inch
• Species
• DBH
• Height
• Crown width
• Crown parameters (dieback, etc.)
• Condition
• Location around buildings

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Data Collection II

• Most fields clear to foresters
• Exceptions
• Canopy Missing
• Dieback
• CLE
• Adoption/Modification of FIA¹ fields
• ¹Forest Inventory and Analysis

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http//www.fia.fs.fed.us/local-resources/images/li
brary/skyward.jpg
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http//www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/field-guides-meth
ods-proc/
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Data collection II

• Details on field data in Manual
• PDF can be searched for field code on desktop
• Can cut codes from Word document, load on to PDA,
  search in field
• Paper form and PDA both coordinate with Manual
• Field problems not in Manual i-Tree support

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Data collection III

• Means
• Paper forms
• Copies in Manual, instruction binder and on CD
• One set used per plot
• Page 1 plot info, shrubs, ground cover
• Page 2 trees
• PDAs
• Pocket PC platform (2002 or 2003 version only)
• Data collection app in final testing
• Much faster and more accurate, once PDAs learned

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Data collection IV

• Post field data collection
• Paper form data
• Enter into Excel
• Send to Syracuse for analysis as .xls
• PDA data
• Upload to host machine
• In future will be brought into local app
• For now send as (disguised) .mdb to Syracuse
  for processing

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Data collection V

• Equipment
• DBH measurement tool
• Height measurement tool
• Compass
• Linear distance measurement tool
• Standard outdoor stuff
• Safety equipment
• Comfortable clothes
• Functional gear

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Mickey Merritt, Texas Forest Service, in some
yucky UFORE plot