Practising with the Forestry Pro 2

 After completing the tree measuring exercise for the Forestry Commission Felling Licence I thought it would be sensible to double check some of the tree hright measurements. I took the Nikon Forestry Pro 2 to the orchard with a spreadsheet printout of the Ash trees.  Most of the leaves have now fallen so I can more easily see the tops of the trees from the limited confines of the orchard.

The Forestry Pro 2 works by measuring the time it takes for a brief pulse of near-infrared laser light to bounce back from the target object. In that respect, it is a bit like a radar.It can measure distance with an accurance of a cm or two over a distance of 100 metres, its full range is about 1500 metres depending on conditions. There is also an in-built clinometer which measures the angle you are tilting the device at the time the reading is taken.By performing trigonometry on the readings the device can calculate:

• Distance of object
• Angle of the object, from horizontal
• The horizontal distance
• The height of the top of the object.

For height measurement you have to trigger the tool whilst sighting on the bottom and then on the top of the object, such as a tree. This is called the two point mode.  There's a three point mode where you first measure the horizontal distance, then aim it at where the top is and then at the base of the object (tree); this works even if you can't see the top/bottom of the tree. The caclulation is completed in less than a second and displayed on an LED screen inside and outside of the Pro 2.

With the sample I checked, my earlier height estimates were reasonably accurate compared to the readings I obtained.

Good Apple Crop this year.

Quick update: we had a great apple harvest at the Orchard this year! We missed one tree, though—most of its apples had already dropped to the ground as windfalls by the time we got there. But the other three trees delivered plenty, filling up buckets with crisp, delicious apples. There were way too many for us to eat ourselves, so we've been busy making apple jelly and leaving a bunch in the alcove of the Old Post Office to share with others!

Ash Dieback update

 We've wrapped up cataloging the Ash trees along the Orchard's roadside embankment as part of our prep for applying for the Forestry Commission Felling Licence. Each tree has been numbered, measured, and checked for Ash Dieback symptoms. We were a bit shocked to find 93 trees (Ash, Elm) packed into that narrow strip of land (Plot 131782 1b). Now, we're just waiting to see if we get approval. As part of the application, we also had to lay out our plans for restocking the areas where the trees will be felled, opting for native broadleaf species that won't grow as tall as the Ash. 

On October 22, 2024, we captured some drone footage over the Ash trees. The ones hit by dieback have already dropped most of their leaves, leaving their branches bare. We have a stored waypoint flight path for the drone (DJI Mini 4 Pro), allows us to accurately repeat flights and take photos in the same location, give or take a few inches. These are ideal for progress monitoring of the Ash Die Back.

As part of our survey, we needed to figure out the height of the standing trees to estimate how much wood we might end up cutting. You can't just grab a tape measure or a stick for this kind of job—especially with the trees growing on a steep 45-degree slope! But now, we're excited to have a Nikon Laser Forestry Pro 2 Hypsometer. It lets us measure the trees from a distance, making things way easier.

Update 5/11/24

Today we had a visit by the Forestry Commission to check the details of our application for a Felling Licence. The visit went well and we expect to receive the licence within 5 weeks time.