Timber cruiser vs timber consultant vs forester

[Hodgkins Tree Removal]

Hey all,

Can you guys help my out with some definitions/job descriptions, please? I am interested in becoming a timber cruiser (I think). Do I HAVE to go to school, or can I do my own studying?

A little bit of background is I have been working for myself doing tree removal for the past year and a half. Now I am on my second week of running a skidder for a small logging operation. I am very intrigued with the logging industry so far, and I think I would like to look into making a career out of it. I am in south eastern New Hampshire if that makes any sort of difference.

Thank you all,
Andrew

 

[slowp]

It depends.

How complicated do you want to make it? Do you just need to estimate how many loads in a unit or do you want to make it more complex by estimating defect? Examples of defect are conks, visible rot, scars, sweep, crook, broken tops, etc.

Maybe spend some time with a cruiser? I learned by working for the Forest Service where they have a certification process and different levels of cruising. You do have to have a good eye for defect and be able to measure accurately. Then that data needs to be converted to cover the whole stand. You need to come within a standard error and to do that, have to have computed a sample size--plots per acre, 3P Cruise, strip cruise, etc. and know how those work. You'll need to know how to identify the species, of course.

I had classes in statistics and forest mensuration in college. Now computers will do the calculations but you'll need to understand how that works.

It can be as simple as walking through and envisioning truck loads or much more complex.

Here's this. Keep scrolling down, the FS likes to use a lot of paper/space.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev2_029371.pdf

 

[Hodgkins Tree Removal]

It depends.

How complicated do you want to make it? Do you just need to estimate how many loads in a unit or do you want to make it more complex by estimating defect? Examples of defect are conks, visible rot, scars, sweep, crook, broken tops, etc.

Maybe spend some time with a cruiser? I learned by working for the Forest Service where they have a certification process and different levels of cruising. You do have to have a good eye for defect and be able to measure accurately. Then that data needs to be converted to cover the whole stand. You need to come within a standard error and to do that, have to have computed a sample size--plots per acre, 3P Cruise, strip cruise, etc. and know how those work. You'll need to know how to identify the species, of course.

I had classes in statistics and forest mensuration in college. Now computers will do the calculations but you'll need to understand how that works.

It can be as simple as walking through and envisioning truck loads or much more complex.

Here's this. Keep scrolling down, the FS likes to use a lot of paper/space.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev2_029371.pdf

Thank you for the reply. And thank you very much for the link! I think I would like being a consultant. Maybe I will just start my own logging business and just do it for my potential customers. I don’t know yet. I still have a lot to figure out. I had no idea how different logging/land management was from tree removal, but it has definitely grabbed my attention.

 

[slowp]

Yes, and timber cruising takes time to learn and more time to get good at it. Logging is the same. Hope you find somebody to learn from.

 

[ATpro]

You can check to see if there is a forestry school that has undergraduate courses where you can gain knowledge about forestry. It can help you select a field to pursue and It also will help with finding a job in the forestry industry.

I was lucky because they offered night school forestry undergraduate courses at a junior college. but that was years ago. I worked with some Foresters and learned a lot. My experience gained in the army corps of engineers helped a lot also.

 

[ATpro]

On the topic of cruising that can take many forms and go from simple timber inventory, to a timber valuation, to a future timber growth analysis. A Forester doing land management would access all these values to determine the best plan to maximize growth potential, profit and landowner ecological goals. It is up to the client to determine his own personal preference and ecological goals. Once that is done a Forester can mold a plan around the personal preference for the landowner. A Forester will normally give the client options on all aspects of management and let the client decide.

 

[ATpro]

Yes, and timber cruising takes time to learn and more time to get good at it. Logging is the same. Hope you find somebody to learn from.

Experience gained when serving with the USACE help me a great deal. We learned surveying, land navigation, learned to use GPS, topo and sat mapping, Forester, logging crews, Timber Companies would contract with me to do survey, terrain routing, setup cruise plotting, and help oversee the cruse teams. It was much cheaper to get me to go in and set things up before hand than pay teams to do this and then try to coordinate all this.

When I got to damn old to ramble around in the woods I went back to school and got a Prescribe Burn Specialist Certification and did Prescribe Burn Management.

 

[alanbaker]

https://colsa.unh.edu/thompson-school-applied-science
Check out the above link. Right in your neck of the woods.

 

[ATpro]

Just help prescribe burn 250 acres, burn manager ask me if I would help manage the burn. I am partially crippled from a stroke but I can run the firelanes with the UTV and spot danger zones, direct people to where they need to be, run the foxfire torch from the UTV, operate the water pump and overall see the burn to conclusion. We burned with a high humility because we didn't want the fire to get to hot because we were burning longleaf pine in the grass stage.