Students track forest management
<p>John Byrne with the U.S. Forest Service and Whitefish High School student Che Roussel look at a telescoping pole used to measure tree growth rates and height in the Priest River Experimental Forest in Idaho. Students were collecting data on forestry management techniques.</p>
<p>Bob Denner with the U.S. Forest Service, center, discusses how to measure tree height using a laser rangefinder and clinometer with Whitefish High School students Emma Nixon, Mackenzie Grover and Emily Clark. Students were collecting data on forestry management techniques in the Priest River Experimental Forest.</p>
On Wednesday, Whitefish High School seniors Haley Burger, Kate Ehrenberg and Emma Nixon explained why following protocols is worth more than just points for a grade in their GIS and Natural Resource Data Analysis class.
GIS — Geographical Information System — is a system of storing, analyzing and mapping data and geographical features.
The GIS and Natural Resource Data Analysis class returned from an October trip collecting data in the Priest River Experimental Forest in northern Idaho where they learned and worked alongside professionals from the U.S. Forest Service. This is the second year students studying Geographic Information System technology have traveled to Priest River. Last year, they studied hydrology.
“Very few high-schoolers get this opportunity to work with professionals,” Nixon said. “Usually you don’t get field work like this until you’re a graduate in college.”
The data will be added to research efforts on the effects of forest management techniques that were conducted eight years ago.
“I think what we have definitely tells a story but I think that’s just a small part of a really big story,” Nixon said.
The class studied forest management techniques that follow a timber harvest, such as mastication and controlled burning techniques such as “under burn” and “pile and burn.”
“We were analyzing the effectiveness of each treatment and how each treatment affected growth and density,” Burger said. “We weren’t trying to figure out which site had the best treatment because it depends on your goals. If you want wildlife you may want to manage for a specific kind of tree or plant for habitat, but if your goal is overall yield for logging you might want dense trees.”
What students learned was that every technique had a different result in forest regrowth.
The plots that underwent the “pile and burn” method, for example, showed more tree diversity, however growth was dense creating shorter trees that might not survive compared to their larger counterparts, according to Nixon.
When they returned to Whitefish, students wanted to apply their new skills to design their own study and teach Freeflow members the methods they learned Burger said. Freeflow is a high school environmental club whose members focus on studying water quality and natural resource management.
“We created our own protocol based on the protocol we learned in Priest River,” Nixon said.
About 22 GIS and Natural Resource Data Analysis and Freeflow students then traveled to the Coram Experimental Forest to collect data on forest treatments such as commercial thinning, fire salvage, recent fire and regeneration.
What they learned from both experiences in Priest River and Coram experimental forests is that conditions out in the field are not always optimal.
Icy conditions prevented them from accessing certain areas in the Coram Experimental Forest and since they hadn’t been to the site before, students found out that some of their information on conditions such as where recent fires had burned was not up to date.
“We had to adapt and change in the field, which is not uncommon,” Burger said.
The GIS and Natural Resource Data Analysis class, now in its second year, grew out of Freeflow club.
Teacher Eric Sawtelle initially brought geographic information systems technology to Whitefish after seeing Bigfork High School students present on work produced using Geographic Information System technology taught by teacher Hans Bodenhamer. Bigfork introduced the technology around 2009-10 in the school’s Cave Club.
“When I first saw Hans Bodenhamer’s students present, it really got me interested in getting a program started here,” Sawtelle said. “I don’t think it’s common to teach GIS in high schools.”
Nixon said Geographic Information System technology allows students to take data from a spreadsheet and make it visual by linking it to a map dotted with points and polygons.
“I feel people are really visual in general so it’s nice to be able to show them something they can easily see,” Burger said.
Ehrenberg added, “You can show what you collected in a format that sort of tells a story and you can analyze changes in space and time with GIS. It’s a really powerful format for expressing your findings.”
Geographic Information Systems make data more accessible, Nixon said.
The systems show relationships or patterns and have a variety of uses.
“You can use GIS in a lot of different fields — use it to analyze environmental science issues or natural resource issues, but you can also use it in business management or health-related issues or mapping the world economy,” Burger said.
Currently students are mapping data from the Coram Experimental Forest and are planning to conducting snow-based studies such as mapping animal tracks. They also plan to continue collecting snow pack data on Big Mountain.
Hilary Matheson is a reporter for The Daily Inter Lake. She may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.