Workshops

FBRI is working together with SAF to offer continuing education (CFE) credits for all FBRI workshops. 21 hours of Category 1-CF credits will be available upon successful workshop completion.

Workshops are located at regional hotel facilities providing excellent accomodations, services, rates and access. The Workshop participants receive the latest textbook, workshop databases and other materials as part of the short course. Registration fees include lunch on all three days, but do not include lodging. Each workshop is limited to 24 participants, so make reservations early.
The current version of FPS may be purchased new as part of a workshop fee at a reduced rate. Please see teh orders page for more information.

Sampling, Calculating, Forecasting and Reporting Forest Carbon Pools

Quantification of carbon in forest systems is critical for those interested in the opportunity to sell carbon credits or concerned about the impact of "cap and trade" legislation on their forest holdings. Forest science has been dealing with the problem quantifying and forecasting tree bole volume and wood product production for over 100 years. Since the majority of tree carbon is contained in the bole, these same methods can be applied directly to the question of forest carbon.

The first part of the workshop will address the methods needed to sample and calculate forest carbon stocks. Sampling methodology will include insight on how to properly sample all potential carbon pools while achieving target levels of confidence. Experts in forest inventory will lay out strategies for achieving these sampling goals in the most cost efficient manner. Topics will also cover the calculation of carbon in trees and in stands using direct field measurements and estimation techniques. Participants will learn how which volumetrics and constants are critical for carbon calculation and how to deal with other units of volume commonly used in forestry such as board feet, cubic feet, green weight in tons and cords.

Forecasting forest growth under different management strategies is necessary for developing carbon projects based on reforestation or new management practices. This requires simulations that evaluate different silviculture regimes and define not only carbon output, but potential wood products output. Stand level forest growth models are well suited for this purpose and participants will get hands-on experience implemented a growth model using real forest inventory information. The workshop will cover the key elements required to drive and effective long range forest growth simulation including stand structure definition and a measure of productivity.

Participants will also learn effective ways to report carbon numbers. They will see some generic reports that can be applied to their own project and learn to modify and develop their own reporting structure. The workshop will cover the information requirements common to all carbon protocols.
>Workshop Agenda


Forest Inventory Design and Management Workshop

This workshop provides: (1) an in-depth examination of how to build useful forest inventories with a focus on stand-based approaches, (2) a thorough review of how FPS processes inventory data, and (3) recommended procedures for managing an operational inventory, including year-end reporting, inventory updates, and depletions. Exercises and a laboratory day have been added for enhanced hands-on experience.

Topics will includes inventory design (stand, plot, tree), database structure, gis basics, photo classification, habitat classification, cruise expansion, acreage reduction for roads (gis), stream buffer computations, polygon management (lump/split/harvest depletion) and year-end reporting.

This workshop provides: (1) an in-depth examination of how to build useful forest inventories with a focus on stand-based approaches, (2) a thorough review of how FPS processes inventory data, and (3) recommended procedures for managing an operational inventory, including year-end reporting, inventory updates, and depletions. A laboratory day has been added for enhanced hands-on activities.
>Workshop Agenda


Forest Growth/Yield and Silviculture Modeling Workshop
Topics will include growth projection methods, visualizations, natural regeneration, silvicultural regimes (clearcut, seed tree, shelterwood, selection), economic analyses (costs, values, discounting) This is an opportunity to learn about the internal structure of the Forest Projection System (FPS) growth model, site curves and taper profiles. This model uses a distance-dependent tree list approach to project the future of mixed-species, mixed-age stands. All site, taper and growth parameters reside in external Libraries localized to geographic regions of the West based on over 20,000 permanent research plots and over thirty years of continuous analysis and review.
>Workshop Agenda

This workshop covers the important details of: (1) how FPS simulates growth (height and diameter), mortality, and regeneration, (2) how to design and simulate silvicultural prescriptions and interpret results, and (3) how to collect data from your land base for localizing site, taper, and regeneration relationships in FPS.

Sustainable Forest Planning Workshop:
Developing a reasonable, defendable and repeatable long term harvest plan has become one of the most difficult and confusing tasks in forest management. Maximizing forest potential is no longer simply optimizing stocking levels. We must now overlay may constraints and goals that may include wildlife management, selection harvest systems, regulatory constraints and various management goals (no longer limited to producing boards). These constraints and goals are often spatially specific and overlap each other. The ability for an organization prove legislative compliance, gain forest certifications and achieve public acceptance of operations often hinges on a precise and defendable long range plan.
>Workshop Agenda

This will be an in-depth workshop demonstrating step by step techniques to build multiple yield streams, implement environmental constraints and create sustainable harvest schedules for various forest management goals. Participants will leave with a clear picture of how to develop and optimize a long range plan.The "Inventory and Planning Workshop" or instructor consent is prerequisite for this workshop. Bring your own portable computer with CD-ROM drive to fully benefit from the software tools and databases provided as a part of this workshop.