Forest Growth and Yield

The FRBC / West Fraser Endowed Chair in Forest Growth and Yield was established at the University of Northern British Columbia with funding from Forest Renewal BC (FRBC), and from West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. Operation began in April 2000. The overall goal was:

"to enhance British Columbia's forest growth-and-yield knowledge-base to accurately predict and sustain timber production in an ecologically, economically, and socially acceptable fashion. Although the program will be provincial in scope, the emphasis will be on northern species and stand types." More...

People

Chair
Oscar García
garcia@unbc.ca
+1 (250) 960-5004

Forestry Extension Officer
Nicole Balliet, RPF
wildern@unbc.ca
+1 (250) 960-5778

Graduate Research Assistant, MSc Student
Jack Lonsdale
lonsdale@unbc.ca
+1 (250) 960-5897

Teaching

FSTY 405 - Forest Growth and Yield.
Link to the course website .

Research

Here is a background/discussion paper on growth modelling in BC.
(To access this and other materials here you may need to ).

Research update, February 2007.

TADAM

Stand level models based on TASS. More...

Site index model for interior lodgepole pine

A new site index/height growth model for planted lodgepole pine in the SBS biogeoclimatic zone, Adrian Batho's MSc thesis.  Both stem analysis and PSP data were used, together with advanced dynamic modelling and statistical techniques.   The work has been completed, and is being prepared for publication.

Spruce growth model

A whole-stand growth model for interior spruce in the SBS Zone has been completed, based partly on  Zheng Hu's MSc thesis.   A spreadsheet implementation and other info are available.  Manuscripts are under review.

Boreal Mixedwoods

Analysis of the development of mixed aspen - white spruce stands  in the Fort Nelson Forest District.  Project under contract with the BC Ministry of Forests.  Completed, see publication below.  More...

Modelling growth of aspen and of aspen-spruce mixtures.

EasySDE

Software for site index modelling in even-aged stands.  Get it here.   (NEW:  EasySDE version 2)

Growth-curve Explorer

A Java applet demonstrating a general family of growth equations and probability distributions.  See here.

Recent publications

García, O. and Ruiz, F.  A growth model for eucalypt in Galicia, Spain.  Forest Ecology and Management 173(1-3), 49-62. 2003.  Abstract/text.  Errata.

García, O.  Dimensionality reduction in growth models:  An example.   Forest Biometry, Modelling and Information Sciences 1, 1-15. 2003.   Text at FBMIS

Kabzems, R.D. and García, O.  Structure and dynamics of trembling aspen-white spruce mixed stands near Fort Nelson, B.C.  Canadian Journal of Forest Research 34(2), 384-395. 2004.  Abstract/text.

García, O. and Batho, A.  Top height estimation in lodgepole pine sample plots.  Western Journal of Applied Forestry 20(1), 64-68. 2005. Abstract/text.

García, O.  Comparing and combining stem analysis and permanent sample plot data in site index models.  Forest Science 51(4), 277-283. 2005. Abstract/text.

García, O.  Site index: Concepts and methods.  In: Cieszewski, C. J., and Strub, M.  (eds.).  Second International Conference on Forest Measurements and Quantitative Methods and Management & The 2004 Southern Mensurationists Meeting, p.275-283.  Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.  2006.  Text.

García, O.  Thinking about Time.  In: Naito, Kenji (ed.)  The Role of Forests for Coming Generations -- Philosophy and Technology for Forest Resource Management, p.47-54.  Japan Society of Forest Planning Press.   Utsunomiya, Japan, 2005.  Preprint.

García, O.  TADAM: A dynamic whole-stand approximation for the TASS growth model. The Forestry Chronicle 81(4), 575-581. 2005.  Errata: 81(6), 815, 2005.  Abstract/text.  Errata.

García, O. Distributions and spatial structure.  In: Reynolds, Keith M. (ed)  "Sustainable forestry in theory and practice:  Recent advances in inventory and monitoring, statistics and modeling, information and knowledge management, and policy science".  USDA Forest Service,  Pacific Northwest Research Station, Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-688.  CD-ROM and on line. Text.

García, O.  Unifying sigmoid univariate growth equations.   Forest Biometry, Modelling and Information Sciences 1, 63-68. 2005.   Text (FBMIS)

Salas, C., and García, O.  Modelling height development of mature Nothofagus obliqua . Forest Ecology and Management 229, 1-6. 2006.   Abstract/text on line.  Preprint.

García, O.  Scale and spatial structure effects on tree size distributions: Implications for growth and yield modelling. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 36(11), 2983-2993. 2006.   Abstract/Text at CJFR website.   Local copy.

Batho, A. and García, O.   De Perthuis and the origins of site index: A historical note . Forest Biometry, Modelling and Information Sciences 1, 1-10. 2006.    Text (FBMIS)

García, O. Dimensionalidad en los modelos de crecimiento [Dimensionality in growth models]. Cuadernos de la Sociedad Española de Ciencias Forestales 23, 19-25. 2007. Copy.

García, O.  Visualization of a general family of growth functions and probability distributions — The Growth-curve Explorer. Environmental Modelling and Software 23(12), 1474-1475. 2008.  Abstract/Text.

García, O.  A simple and effective forest stand mortality model.  Mathematical and Computational Forestry and Nat.-Res. Sci. 1(1), 1-9. 2009.   Text (MCFNS).

Some conference presentations

Southern Mensurationists Conference, Jekyll Island, GA, November 2000.   PDF ( 468 Kb).

WESBOGY Association Meeting, Peace River, Alberta, September 2001.   PDF (572 Kb).

Western Mensurationists ' Conference, Leavenworth, WA, June 2002.  PDF (335 Kb).

2003 Western Mensurationists Conference, Victoria, BC, July 1-3.  PDF (399 Kb).

2nd International Conference on Forest Measurements and Quantitative Methods and Management, Hot Springs, AR, June 2004. PDF (661 Kb).

The Role of Forests for Coming Generations: Philosophy and Technology for Forest Resource Management, Utsunomiya, Japan, October 2004. PDF (834 Kb).

Western Mensurationists Conference, Hilo, HI, July 2005.  Transcript (PDF, 675 Kb).  Original slides.

2008 World Conference on Natural Resource Modelling, Warsaw, Poland, 15-18 June 2008. PDF (1.6 Mb).

Colloque INRA "Modélisation pour les Resources Naturalles", Montpellier, France, 18-20 June 2008.  PDF (1.8 Mb).

Meeting on "Growth and Yield in Central and Northeastern BC", held at UNBC, 29 June 2005

Link to web site.