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Assessing the accuracy of crown biomass equations for the major commercial species of the interior northwest: study plan and preliminary results

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Fueled by the insistencies of wildfire mitigation, bioenergy development, and carbon sequestration, there is growing demand for reliable characterizations of crown and stem biomass stocks in conifer forests of the Interior Northwest, United States (western Montana, northern Idaho, and eastern Washington). Predictive equations for crown biomass have been developed for this region but they have limited empirical support and supply markedly different predictions. This paper provides a methodological overview and preliminary results from an on-going study aimed in part at describing the accuracy of existing tree biomass equations for the Interior Northwest. Crown biomass estimates obtained from destructive sampling of 81 trees exhibited considerable variation around predictions from commonly used crown biomass equations based on DBH (diameter at breast height, 1.37 m). Some of this variation is attributable to within-tree sampling error, but initial results suggest that an appreciable proportion is due to variation in crown dimensions within DBH classes. Continuing data collection efforts will permit statistical descriptions of the accuracy of existing equations, as well as a basis for developing more integrative and precise tree biomass equations.

Parent Publication

Citation

Affleck, David L.R.; Turnquist, Brian R. 2012. Assessing the accuracy of crown biomass equations for the major commercial species of the interior northwest: study plan and preliminary results. In: McWilliams, Will; Roesch, Francis A. eds. 2012. Monitoring Across Borders: 2010 Joint Meeting of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Symposium and the Southern Mensurationists. e-Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-157. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 247-254.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/41013