F.I.G. Plot Setup

Yesterday with the help of district forester, Oliver Markewicz, my "Trees and the Maine Forest" students began the initial setup of a F.I.G. plot in the T.A. Forest. F.I.G. stands for Forest Inventory Growth and is a statewide program headed up by Project Learning Tree and the Maine Tree Foundation. This program encourages schools to establish long term plots in forests near their campus with the purpose of monitoring tree growth and patterns of change over time in the Maine woods. The ongoing data from schools all over the state is posted HERE. Our data should show up on the website in the near future. The students working to do the initial setup of this plot have the honor of starting something that will continue long after they have left Thornton Academy. It is neat to think about the possibility of their children someday taking my class and performing the same measurements on the same trees in what should be a much different looking forest.

Students have spent the first half of the semester working hard to practice identification of 25 common southern Maine tree species as well as master the measurement techniques used daily by foresters and loggers. Our F.I.G. plot is circular with a radius of 37.24 feet which amounts to one tenth of an acre. Beginning at magnetic north, students worked clockwise around the plot first identifying, then performing quantitative and qualitative measurements on all trees with a DBH greater than five inches. DBH stands for "diameter breast height" and is measured at 4.5 feed above the ground on the high side of the tree.

Students perform measurements on a young northern red oak under the guidance of district forester, Oliver Markewicz.