The last week was one full of more learning than usual, which is always a great thing.
After learning how to cruise timber, the interns cruised a stand out near Blodgett without the help of Fred or Lys. After we finished the stand, Fred took us back out to the stand and showed us how to do a check cruise. A check cruise is a lot like how it sounds. We went back to the stand and went through our plots
again to see if any mistakes were made (there were). Fred taught us about the importance of taking our time at each plot and paying extra attention to detail with each and every measurement, as well as the process of entering the data we collected correctly.
Once our check cruise was complete, the rest of the interns and I went to the East Ray stand off Highway 20 where we did another check cruise, which went much better than the first.
This week, we will be working on a unit near the Wren Hill lumber mill. The unit includes five different stands, which will make things very interesting.
There is only about a month left until our senior years start at Oregon State, so we are making the most out of the time we have left here at Starker Forests.
— Marshall Brattain