Dr. Stephen E. Fairweather, ACF is the Principal at Fairweather Biometrics. He has over 40 years of experience in forest biometrics and applied statistics with government, academia, industry, and consulting. He's worked throughout the United States, and in Brazil and Russia. He served on the Executive Committee of the Association of Consulting Foresters from 2015 to 2018, and wrote the "Dr. DBH" column for the SAF Forestry Source.
Steve has a penchant for developing statistically sound, meaningful, and understandable analyses, and enjoys helping his clients make sense of what can be fairly complicated systems. Clients know they can depend on him to deliver a quality product on time and on budget.
The first step in the process is to form a model forest that resembles the ownership of interest in terms of number of stands, stand size, strata, age classes, volumes, growth and cutting over a period of several years. The key is that we have "perfect knowledge" of this forest.
We then define the inventory protocols in terms of cruising specifications, growth model capabilities, the use of stratification, and timing. Over many replications we can compare our inventory estimates to the true known values in the model forest.
There are no formulas for determining a confidence interval for a total stand-based inventory when stands have been cruised at different points in time or not at all. Simulation provides a way to evaluate the reliability of the total inventory estimate, as well as the individual stand inventory estimates.
Steve has given two technical presentations on this topic. One was "Assessing the Accuracy of Your Stand-Based Forest Inventory" at the 18th Annual Foresters Forum in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho on February 7, 2019. The other was "Using Simulation to Assess the Accuracy of a Forest Inventory System" at the Western Forest Economists meeting in Hood River, Oregon on June 4, 2019. Let him know if you'd like to see either presentation.
SAF members can obtain pdfs of each edition at https://www.eforester.org/Main/Library/Forestry_Source_2017-_Members_Only.aspx
Can I Flip My Regression Around and Predict X from Y? July 2017. Vol.22(7). Pg. 11.
What Does It Really Mean to Have An "Unbiased" Cruise? September 2017. Vol. 22(9). Pg. 22.
How Many Plots? November 2017. Vol. 22(11). Pg. 16 and 21.
The Beauty of Stratification. January 2018. Vol. 23(1). Pg. 15.
Estimating a Proportion and a Quick Note About the Importance of the Confidence Interval. March 2018. Vol. (23(3). Pg. 15 and 21.
A Tale of Two Cruises. May 2018. Vol. 23(5). Pg. 13
Testing Your Hypothesis. July 2018. Vol. 23(7). Pg. 23 and 29.
Rules of Thumb. September 2018. Vol. 23(9). Pg. 13.
Cruising for Dollars. November 2018. Vol. 23(11). Pg. 17.
A Quick Review of Line Intersect Sampling. January 2019. Vol. 24(1). Pg. 10.
Characterizing Riparian Buffers Using Horizontal Line Sampling. March 2019. Vol. 24(3). Pg.20-21.
Use 3P Sampling to Cruise that Small Timber Sale. May 2019. Vol. 24(5). Pg. 20-21.
"As a client of Fairweather Biometrics, LLC, I have been very pleased with the cruise data management service. No new software to purchase and learn. No software updates. Cruise results are promptly returned with attention to detail and quality." Stanley D. Swierz, Consulting Forester, Ohio
"Steve helped me to develop an inventory, growth modeling, and management planning system for my forest ownership. He did a great job in a very timely, cost effective, and seamless manner. The results have proven to be accurate and useful, if not essential, to good forest management." Bruce Edwards, Starlight Forests, Pennsylvania
“Steve, thanks so much for your extremely informative webinar. You have a gift for making a complicated topic understandable, which was very much appreciated. I’m sure the insights and tools you provided will help us to be more effective and efficient. Thank you.” MIke Wolcott, Inland Forest Management, Idaho
"I recently had the opportunity to work with Dr. Fairweather on a growth modeling project. Steve responded quickly to my questions and worked diligently to deliver high quality, professional results on time and on budget. I look forward to working with him again in the near future." Steven G. Hawkes, Chief Forester, Landvest Timber, New Hampshire.
For a list of professional consulting foresters in your area who have met the education and experience requirements for membership and work according to the ACF Code of Ethics, visit www.acf-foresters.org .
Visit Mason, Bruce & Girard, Inc. at www.masonbruce.com . MB&G offers all forestry services, including land management, as well as expertise in geospatial applications, fisheries, wildlife, wetlands, and regulatory compliance monitoring.