Creating Woodland Inventories

Event Summary – Creating Woodland Inventories

Producing an effective woodland management plan requires landowners and agents to complete an accurate forest stand inventory. The benefits of completing a detailed inventory go beyond the management plan and enable landowners to maximise their woodlands’ opportunities while mitigating or preventing any risks.

As part of the Northwoods Innovation Programme, we are developing enhanced inventory functionality within the Sylva Foundation’s myForest Platform. The new functionality seeks to support users during the inventory process by providing detailed guidance on what data is needed, how to collect it, and - once uploaded into myForest - automatically analyse it. It is hoped that this will enable more woodland owners to collect accurate forest inventory data in less time and with greater confidence.

The Creating Woodland Inventories event was held on 27^th September to introduce attendees to woodland inventories and test the new inventory tool on the myForest platform. The day was filmed by Dan and Lottie of HT Media and interviews were conducted with members of the Northwoods Consortium to produce a video case study focused on the inventory tool. The video is currently being edited.  

The event started in the classroom in Grewelthorpe Village Hall, North Yorkshire where Will Richardson, Chartered forester and member of the Northwoods Consortium, introduced attendees to forest mensuration and the use of appropriate equipment to conduct measurements. Interesting insights were provided by Oliver Combe from Timber Auctions on the importance of accurate inventory data to standing timber sales. The theory session culminated with the distribution of equipment – DBH tapes, clinometers, logger’s tapes and plot data collection forms - and travel to Swinton Estate’s Nutwith Common to undertake a site visit and collect inventory data for a stand of beech trees.

Following a demonstration, attendees were assisted to collect accurate plot data in groups. Measurements consisted of timber height, DBH and plot size. We then visited timber stacks from previous thinning of the stand and discussed how active management of a stand can impact the quality of timber crop produced and its respective value before the weather began to turn and we returned to the village hall for lunch.

The afternoon session was led by the Sylva Foundation. Director of Operations Paul Orsi provided an overview of the myForest platform before diving into the Alpha testing of the inventory functionality in detail, adeptly supported by Head of Forestry Andrew Clark. Attendees were given access to a myForest staging server on which they could input the data they had collected during the site visit and explore the inventory outputs. Instructors were able to answer individual queries and receive attendees’ feedback on the inventory methodology, useability and outputs. Automated outputs include estimated standing timber volumes and average stocking densities.

Overall, feedback from the event was positive and constructive. The smaller size of the group facilitated successful whole group discussions and the opportunity for all attendees to ask event instructors questions with no question being too small. Field testing in this way provided the Sylva Foundation with valuable feedback, which is being used to finalise development to ensure the new myForest inventory functionality works as intended when it is launched in 2024.

Finally, it has become apparent that there is demand for a similar event further north in Northumberland. This will be explored when the inventory functionality is further developed to incorporate Beta testing of the development. Future event information will be published on Eventbrite and in the Northwoods monthly newsletter.

Many thanks must go to the event instructors, namely Andrew Clark, Oliver Combe, Paul Orsi and Will Richardson for their expertise and support delivering the event. Thanks also goes to all attendees who asked questions and contributed to discussions throughout the day and the Swinton Estate and Grewelthorpe Village Hall which provided ideal venues for the day’s activities.  

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Original event information

Regardless of whether you are a new forest owner, or a looking to undertake your inventories in a new way, join the Northwoods team for a day exploring woodland inventories. 

We will start in the classroom looking at what a woodland inventory is, before heading out into the woods to collect data. Following this, you will start to produce a woodland inventory in myForest and look at how the inventory data can be used when managing woodlands. myForest helps you, securely, map and manage your woodlands in one place.

Producing an effective woodland management plan requires landowners and agents to complete an accurate forest stand inventory. The benefits of completing a detailed inventory go beyond the management plan and enable land owners to maximise their woodlands opportunities while mitigating or preventing any risks. 

As part of the Northwoods Innovation Programme, we have developed of new forest inventory tools and integrated these into the myForest platform. The new tool seeks to support users during the inventory process by providing detailed guidance on which data is needed, how to collect it, and - once uploaded into myForest - automatically analyse it. It is hoped that this will enable more woodland owners to collect accurate forest inventory data in less time and with greater confidence. 

Agenda: 

9:00 - Meet at Grewelthorpe Village Hall from 9 with tea and coffee provided

9:30 - Start: what is a woodland inventory and why does it matter?

10:15 - Woodland visit: head into the woods and start to build up a woodland inventory

12:45 - Lunch (please bring your own) and return to the Village Hall

13:30 - Building a woodland inventory in myForest 

16:00 - Event summary and feedback

16:30 - Event end

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Event Instructors:

Will Richardson, RDI Associates

Will is a Chartered Forester, graduating from the University of Aberdeen with an MSc in Forestry in 1996. Director of RDI Associates, Will has experience in all sectors of the forest industry from woodland and tree work contracting and managing private woodland estates to working for a local authority as a woodland officer as well as running training courses for forestry supply chains and woodland owners. Will will run the morning aspect of the event and support in the afternoon. 

Paul Orsi, Sylva Foundation

Paul is Director of Operations and leads Sylva Foundation’s Forestry and Land Programme, which is mainly delivered through innovative web technology in myForest and NatureBid. Paul is a member of the ICF’s Professional and Educational Standards Committee and is a member of the Forestry Commission's East of England Forestry and Woodland Advisory Committee. Through the Northwoods Innovation Programme, Paul is responsible for delivering the new myForest Inventory Tool. Paul will lead the afternoon session of the event. 

Gwyneth Bradbury, Sylva Foundation

Gwyneth joined the Sylva team in 2022, with a background in research support software development and engineering. Her earlier research into the simulation of forest environments for virtual worlds using real-world data led to an interest in developing software tools for forestry applications. Gwyneth works on the development of Sylva’s myForest and NatureBid applications. She has developed the myForest Inventory Tool and will support Paul with the afternoon session.