Eli’s stocking survey

Going into the field? Open the Android field app for the 43 numbered plots, GPS guidance and large counting buttons. Install and back up the app before leaving Wi-Fi.

The job: find how many of this year’s redwood plugs are alive, where planting failed, and what needs replacing. Survey after the first summer and before deciding on another nursery order. A stocking survey counts trees in measured sample areas spread across the planting. It lets us estimate trees per acre without counting every tree.

1. Agree on the area and the trees being counted

Walk through the boundary with Dave before laying out points. Use the area actually planted with 2026 redwood plugs. Keep the earlier trial, roads, landings, retained forest and other plantings separate. Keep failed patches inside the planting unit; excluding them would make survival look better than it is.

Record the boundary version, measured net acres, actual number planted, planting dates and seedling lots. The records mention approximately 18, 25 and 26 acres in different contexts. None is automatically the right denominator for this survey. An order or delivery count is not a completed planting count.

Without a confirmed area and matching planting tally, report sampled trees per acre and the unresolved inputs. Do not announce a whole-unit survival percentage.

2. Lay out points before looking at survival

Start with about 40 evenly spaced sample centers, using a randomly chosen grid origin on the verified planting boundary. This is a proposed management survey, not a required official sample count. The final count can differ from 40. Retain every final point ID and use extra forms as needed.

Do not move a center toward a good tree, away from brush, or closer to a road. Choose a safe walking route between centers. If a point cannot be reached safely, record it as unsafe and explain why; do not silently substitute a convenient point.

For planning only, 40 points over 18 acres imply roughly 140-foot grid spacing; over 25 acres, roughly 165 feet. Final placement must use real geographic boundaries, not measurements taken from the picture.

The September 8 GPS layout provides 36 main-planting centers and 7 separate trial centers, with identical IDs in the map, GPS files and records. Its main grid is about 151 feet apart; its single random origin produced 36 centers inside the image-derived working frame. Retain the grid and IDs while resolving the actual planted edges.

The earlier 18-page packet remains available for its additional instructions and replacement worksheet. Its old P01-P40 picture is superseded for navigation by the new 26-P01 to 26-P36 and 25-T01 to 25-T07 layout.

3. Learn the first three plots together

Do the first three with Dave or a forester. Agree on which seedlings belong to the 2026 planting, what counts as living or uncertain, and how to measure a plot. Bring a tape marked at 16.65 feet—about 16 feet 8 inches, flagging or a center stake, pencil, the packet, charged phone, offline map and power bank. Let Barb know the route and expected return time.

Each full plot is a circle of 1/50 acre, measured horizontally from its center. Forty full circles sample 0.8 acre. Think of them as forty small windows spread across the plantation, not forty places chosen because trees look good.

4. At each sample center

1. Find and mark the center. Navigate to the planned point. Let the phone location settle; record accuracy if available. Mark the center with its ID. Preserve the planned point and save a separate actual-center waypoint, such as 26-P01-A. Record offsets rather than hiding them.

2. Measure the circle with a tape. Keep the tape horizontal, or measure short level steps with a helper. Phone GPS is too imprecise to define a 16.65-foot radius. A tape lying on a slope needs a direction-specific slope correction; the packet explains it. If uncertain, ask for help rather than estimating by eye.

3. Sweep four quarters. Work clockwise. Count a tree by the position of its stem at ground level. Measure borderline stems. Several shoots from one planted root count as one seedling. Temporarily mark plants already counted; avoid pulling or injuring roots.

4. Record every category below. Write 0 for a completed count with no trees. A blank means unrecorded. An unsafe or skipped plot is not a zero-tree plot.

5. Photograph and check the record. Take a plot overview showing the ID and close-ups of damaged or uncertain trees. Note competing brush, browse and visible symptoms without assuming a cause. Save the waypoint and reopen it before moving on.

Living 2026 redwoods = H + D. Living does not necessarily mean suitable as a future crop tree. After agreeing on acceptable-tree criteria with the reviewer, record that separate tally in the notes; do not assume all H or D trees meet it. Keep the 2025 trial and natural regeneration out of the 2026 survival count. Put uncertain species or planting years in the notes for review.

5. Handle edges and gaps honestly

If a circle crosses the planting boundary or an exclusion, keep its center and mark EDGE. Count only trees inside both the circle and the planting unit, then sketch and photograph the boundary. Do not multiply a partial-plot count by 50. A forester must resolve the effective area or apply an appropriate edge method before the whole-unit estimate is finalized.

Record large bare patches separately as G01, G02 and so on. Map them and count suitable empty planting positions. This helps decide where replacements belong, but those deliberately chosen gap counts do not join the systematic sample average. Review the earlier trial separately; a complete count may be practical if its original planting positions can be reconstructed.

6. Summarize before ordering

First account for every planned ID, including edge, unsafe and revisit records. For complete equal-area plots under the finalized design:

Estimated live trees/acre = (total H + total D) ÷ number of full plots × 50.

For example, 240 living redwoods in 40 full plots means an estimated 300 per acre. If the verified matching area were 25 acres, that would imply 7,500 survivors. If records confirmed 9,000 actually planted in that same area, estimated survival would be 83.3%. These numbers are an invented example, not survey results. A design with corrected edge plots may need a different estimator.

Report sample size, count range, zero-tree plots, damaged/uncertain trees and unresolved records. Forty plots do not guarantee precision. If patchiness or uncertainty could change the order materially, have a forester review the design and results and consider another independent grid or a full count of gaps.

Then use the replacement plan. A dense corner cannot make up for a bare hillside.

References and downloads

• Corrected fillable survey packet
• Phone note blocks for all 40 plots
• Blank survey register (CSV)
• ODF plot-method source
• Oregon reforestation rules

The 40-point intensity, categories and replacement workflow are project recommendations. This packet is not an ODF compliance determination. Confirm the applicable species, stocking and timing requirements with ODF or the consulting forester.

Prepared with AI assistance from the recovered September 7 survey packet and project records. Updated September 7, 2026.

✏️ Edit this page ?