An Easier Way to Inventory Your Forest

NNRG announces new forest inventory tool!

Conducting a timber and woody biomass inventory of a forest may sound complicated. But as a forest owner, it’s one of the first steps you’ll need to take before diving into the substantial decisions of how to steward your forest. Thanks to funding from the USDA Risk Management Agency, NNRG and partners have released two new tools to make forest inventories simpler: a Woody Biomass Calculator and an accompanying guidebook that explains how to use the calculator.

The guidebook introduces inventory concepts and techniques, explains how to collect field data, and provides guidance on how to analyze the field data using the Woody Biomass Calculator. Together these tools can help inform forest management decisions and answer questions like:

• How much timber volume is in my forest?
• How much should I remove? How much should I retain to meet my management goals?
• Which trees have merchantable value? Which ones do not?
• How much wood should I leave on the ground during thinning to improve soil health and wildlife habitat?
• Will I increase fire risk if I leave too much dead wood in my forest?
• How much woody biomass can I remove from my forest to use for firewood, biochar, and other projects?

Going through the inventory process means more time in the woods and a deeper knowledge of the stocking and composition. These tools will help you better understand what management steps to take to create and maintain a healthy, productive forest.

Keen on learning more forest inventory and monitoring methods to help you better know your forest? Check out NNRG’s monitoring and inventory resources.

View the Guidebook


Download the Calculator

These resources were prepared thanks to funding from: