Forestry crews have been quietly toiling away in Lakes District backcountry to develop a new baseline forest inventory for the Lakes Timber Supply Area (TSA).

鈥淚n the Lakes this last summer we鈥檝e taken aerial photography of the entire Lakes area,鈥� said Pat Martin, Forest Inventory Manager with Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.  鈥淲e photographed every inch of the forest area.  Over the next two years forestry inventory specialists will go over all those photographs to identify areas of timber that are similar in terms of height, age and species.  We鈥檒l break down the whole area into stand types to produce a forest area map of the entire region.鈥�

waThe photography is done but interpreting the photographs is not straightforward.  Analysts must be able to account for a lot of detail in data collected not only in the Lakes TSA but throughout the province.  They can鈥檛 get out in the field to verify particulars, so that kind of field work was completed locally over the late summer and early fall months.

Photo inventory and interpretation requires a lot of field work.  鈥淭he people working with the photographers go into the field quite a bit because they need to calibrate their eyes,鈥� said Martin.  鈥淭hey will look at what the photo is showing and go to location in the field and make sure that what they think they鈥檙e seeing in the photo is what they see in the field.鈥�

These 鈥榯imber cruisers鈥� or forestry technicians in the current vernacular,  go to randomly selected field locations to get measurements and statistics regarding trees within a plot.  鈥淚t鈥檚 part of the inventory process,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淔ield crews go out and accurately measure the trees in a plot for their height, size, timber quality and species composition.鈥�

Plot size isn鈥檛 determined before hand.  The actual area of a surveyed plot depends on the size of the trees present, as well as the distance between those trees.

鈥淚f you imagine an 鈥榵鈥�, then one plot is at the centre point and each tip of the 鈥榵鈥� represents another plot,鈥� Martin said.  But where those plots are depends on the tree size and location so every plot could be a different size.

This makes for a lot of leg work in terrain that doesn鈥檛 necessarily allow for vehicle access.  鈥淪ometimes it鈥檚 accessible by road, sometimes by helicopter and sometimes by walking,鈥� said Agathe Bernard, Stewardship Officer with the Forest District of Nadina.

Whatever the mode of travel, timber cruisers have to watch out for bear and lynx and be prepared for a day spent outdoors whatever the weather or mosquito level.

The crews are now finished their field work and samples and data have been shipped off to labs in Victoria.

鈥淲e鈥檒l compile that information over the next few months to support decision making in the short term.  The full inventory will be completed over the next two years,鈥� Martin said, 鈥渂ut we expect to have preliminary information by Christmas.鈥�

This quiet forest work offers a lot of jobsatisfaction.  鈥淭here鈥檚 a satisfaction that comes with knowing what is growing in our forests and doing work that others depend on,鈥� said Bernard.  鈥淎nd nothing beats working outside.鈥�