Department of Natural Resources and Environment Forest Management Division Using GPS and Forest Inventory Apps in Forest Management Presented by: Dan Heckman Cory Luoto

Overview Introduction to the Michigan DNRE Forest Management Division Using Soloforest, Tcruise, ArcGIS and Custom Applications in Forest Inventory Using Soloforest, Tcruise, and TSALE in Implementing Treatments

Forest Management Land + State Parks + State Game Areas _______________ 4.5 Million acres Michigan State Land

3.9 Million acres Last Fiscal year produced $35 Million in timber receipts 400 Million Bd ft/yr 70 Active timber sales at any given time Michigan State Forest Land

Managed by Districts –4 districts Manager Planner Silviculturalist Recreation specialists Districts divided into 16 Forest Management Units (FMU) WLP ELP EUP WUP

FMU’s Divided into Compartments for Inventory and management purposes

State Forest divided by Management Areas for long term planning

Overview Using Soloforest, Tcruise, ArcGIS and Custom Applications in Forest Inventory Using Soloforest, Tcruise, and TSALE in Implementing Treatments Introduction to the Michigan DNRE Forest Management Division

Key components of Forest Inventory System IFMAP Integrated Forest Monitoring, Assessment, and Prescriptions –ArcGIS 9.3 Platform for creating / editing data SDE connections to statewide Database ArcGIS application is run on Citrix server Farm –Custom built PC applications DISCO – Custom app on local PC (Disconnected from Network) for editing and transfer forest Inventory Data RAD Tools – Custom app for final Reports, Analysis, and Documentation –Field Computers NOMAD –GPS – Garmin 10 and Garmin 16 antennas –Soloforest –Tcruise –IFMAP Mobile – Custom app on mobile device to edit Inventory Data

Flow of Data in IFMAP I ntegrated F orest M onitoring, A ssessment, and P rescriptions GDSE (Server) Geographical Decision Support Environment Local ComputerLocal Printer DISCO IFMAP Mobile RAD Tools Solo Forest NOMAD ArcMap Inventory Data GPS Data All Data Inventory Data Citrix Spatial Data

GDSE Geographical Decision Support Environment Local Computer NOMAD ArcMap All Data Citrix IFMAP Spatial data is transferred to the NOMAD for use in Soloforest … Flow of Spatial Data in IFMAP IFMAP MobileSolo Forest GPS Data

Using GPS with Soloforest –Imagery used in conjunction with stand boundaries is a great tool for efficiently navigating while conducting Forest Inventory Using GPS Navigation for Forest Inventory

Stand examiners using a custom feature file collect GPS data on non vegetative inventory features: –forest roads –Recreational trails –Illegal trash piles –Raptor nests –Resource damage –Insect / disease problems –Survey Corners Using GPS to collect other data for Forest Inventory

Stand examiners also use sticky log function in Soloforest to adjust stand boundaries and identify new stands in the field Using Field GIS / GPS to “Ground Truth” Data

GDSE Geographical Decision Support Environment Local Computer ArcMap All Data Citrix One server with statewide data (GDSE) Users login and run ArcMap via Network on Citrix server Every user edits state wide layers –Stand examiners are assigned compartments – 1000 to 5000 acres each –Digitize Pre-Inventory stand boundaries with basic attribution in database using ArcGIS IFMAP Flow of Forest Inventory Data in IFMAP

“Empty” Forest Inventory data is transferred from local computer to a custom application called DISCO –(Disconnected Editor) DISCO data –Stand Data is populated in the field from paper data sheets or –Sent to IFMAP Mobile on the NOMAD for data entry… GDSE Geographical Decision Support Environment Local Computer DISCO NOMAD ArcMap All Data Citrix IFMAP Mobile Inventory Data IFMAP Flow of Forest Inventory Data in IFMAP

Summary of Data Flow between ArcMap, DISCO, and IFMAP Mobile

Qualitative Forest Inventory data is collected on entire compartment using IFMAP Mobile on the NOMAD –Stand Level Data Upland / Lowland Canopy Closure Basal Area Stand of Interest? –Tree Data Species Relative percentage of Canopy occupancy DBH Size Class –Sub-Canopy Data Species Relative Abundance Qualitative Data Collection

Quantitative Forest Inventory data is collected on stands of interest using TCruise and Soloforest on the NOMAD Traditional Forestry Measurements Quantitative Data Collection

Quantitative Data Outputs

Getting Maps and Reports, doing Analysis, and finding Documentation GDSE Geographical Decision Support Environment Local ComputerLocal Printer DISCO IFMAP Mobile RAD Tools Solo Forest NOMAD ArcMap Inventory Data GPS Data All Data Active Sync Citrix IFMAP

Custom Application –housed on Citrix Server –Users Log in User can retrieve Maps Reports Analyze statewide data Query specific data sets Find instruction Manual RAD Tools Reports, Analysis, and Documentation

Review: Flow of Data in IFMAP I ntegrated F orest M onitoring A ssessment and P rescriptions GDSE Geographical Decision Support Environment Local ComputerLocal Printer DISCO IFMAP Mobile RAD Tools Solo Forest NOMAD ArcMap Inventory Data GPS Data All Data Inventory Data Citrix Spatial Data

Overview Using Soloforest, Tcruise, IFMAP and TSALE in Implementing Treatments Using Soloforest, Tcruise, ArcGIS and Custom Applications in Forest Inventory

Key components of Implementing Treatments –Field Preparation of Treatments GPS field Treatment Boundary using Soloforest Cumulative Tally using TCruise and RTI Custom Export DLL –Selling the Timber Update Treatment Boundaries in IFMAP Create Timber Sale Map in ArcGIS Import Cruise data in TSALE Create Timber Sale Contract using Vegetative Management System (VMS) –Keeping the Inventory Up-to-date Treatment Tracking Update the Forest Inventory Data Update spatial changes to Stand Boundaries

Implementing Treatments Stands are prescribed for a treatment in IFMAP

Implementing Treatments Treatment Boundaries exported for use in Soloforest in field Preparation

Implementing Treatments Treatment Boundaries is painted and logged at the same time

Implementing Treatments GPS boundary is then used as the cruise boundary

Implementing Treatments Cruise data is entered for each plot

Implementing Treatments Cruise data is exported in custom format for use in TSALE

Implementing Treatments Our format for needed for TSALE is a space delimited text file with a particular file extension

Implementing Treatments CRL file imported into TSALE to compute volumes, appraise timber, and create contract

Implementing Treatments VMS (Vegetative Management System) is the future program to handle these tasks Currently used to produce Timber Sale Contract Specifications Manage Customers

Implementing Treatments Timber Sale Mapped in ArcMap using Shapefile from Soloforest

Implementing Treatments Sale boundary shape file given to producers for navigating equipment

NOMAD used for Timber Sale Inspection Forms

GPS Problem Areas

Implementing Treatments Post Harvest Process –Treatment Boundary becomes new Stand Boundary –Forest Inventory Data gets updated to reflect new covertype and age class –Treatment is closed – stored in Treatment History Layer Compartment is re- Inventoried on 10 year cycle Process starts all over again!

Questions? Cory Luoto Dan Heckman Thank You!