2024 Western Mensurationists Meeting

The Western Mensurationists meeting for 2024 took place on June 16-18,2024 at Granlibakken Tahoe. 

Agenda

Sunday, June 16

4:30 -7 pm     Registration (Outside of Cedar House)
5 -7 pm     Icebreaker at Cedar House

Monday, June 17

8:45 am  Welcome – Samantha Gill
Session 1 (Moderator – Samantha Gill)
9:00      Estimating site index and tree age for Saskatchewan boreal mixedwood forest ecosystem using LiDAR Individual Tree Inventory – Thuan Chua
9:30     Rethinking Productivity Evaluation in Precision Forestry Through Dominant Height and Site Index Measurements Using LiDAR Data – Iván Raigosa-García
10:00     Calculation of Site Index Using Bi-Temporal Lidar Data – Dan Opalach and Halli Hemmingway
10:40     Break
Session 2 (Moderator – Tim Robards)
11:15     Unveiling Forest Architecture: A Paradigm Shift in Forestry Management – Eli Jensen
11:45     Package Development for R applications: An Introduction – Martin Ritchie
12:15 pm   Lunch at Granhall
Session 3 (Moderator – Dan Opalach)
2:00     Growth and Yield Modeling using a Remotely Sensed Forest Inventory – Ethan Hughes
2:30     Geiger-mode lidar redux: canopy penetration, stem segmentation, and measurement – Edward Flathers
3:00     Use of High Density Geiger-Mode and Simultaneous Location and Mapping (SLAM) to Estimate Stem Taper: A Comparative Analysis – Ann Abbott
3:35     Adjourn for Monday
6 :30     Banquet at Granhall

Tuesday, June 18

8:45 am  Welcome and house keeping – Samantha Gill
Session 4 (Moderator – Martin Ritchie)
9:00     Robust SDImax model for evaluating self-thinning and carrying capacity in the Klamath Mountains ecoregion – Jaslam Poolakkal
9:30     Evaluation of Soil Moisture Regimes and Vegetative Communities in the Inland Northwest, USA – Daria Paxton
10:00     VASIPRED: Advanced Visualization of Measurement and Process Errors in Site Index Models – C.J. Cieszewski
10:30     Using Modified FIA sampling to estimate height to crown base in giant sequoia-mixed conifer stands – Samantha Gill
10:50     Break and picture
11:20     Business Meeting
12:00 pm    Lunch at Granhall

Call for abstracts

The call for abstracts for the 2024 Western Mensurationists’ meeting in Tahoe, California June 16-18 is now closed.

We invited individuals to submit abstracts for traditional talks and/or science flashes (short presentations to showcase emerging research or highlight unique/interesting ideas and applications).  Topics for abstracts are open to all aspects of mensuration — forest measurements, modeling, inventory, growth and yield, planning, analysis, etc. The due date for submission of abstracts was Friday, March 15, 2024. 

Registration

Registration is now closed. Registraion cost for the conference was $435.

Location & Lodging Information

Granlibakken Tahoe
725 Granlibakken Road
Tahoe City, CA 96145

WESTERN MENSURATIONSTS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENTS AWARD

“Western Mensurationists Lifetime Achievement Award” honors scientists that contributed significantly to the quantitative aspects of the western North American forestry. The award aims at senior researchers that are associated with the Western Mensurationists group and have shaped the forest research of/from the western region of the USA and Canada.

The award is given only once to an individual. The selection process starts by ranking the scientists according to the number of nominations from fellows mensurationists. The person with the largest number of nominations is then validated by the Lifetime Achievement award committee. The recipients of the awards are:

  • 2023: Kim Iles

KIM ILES MATHEMATICAL CHALLANGE

In 2009 two SOEMNS fellows, Lewis Jordan and Ray Souter, started the Mike Strub Challenge contest, to honor Mike Strub’s inquisitory mind, tenacity in pursuing forest related questions, and not the least, its kindness. Western Mensurationists decided to mirror this passion for numerical forestry with a challenge of its own. Therefore, starting with 2023, the Kim Iles Mathematical Challenge is launched in Canmore AB, Canada. The challenge bears the name of Kim Iles who can be considered the epitome of a forest mensurationist: integrated within the environment, considerate toward nature and humans,  comprehensive in endeavor, inquisitorial in scientific pursue, wise in recommendations, and Shakespearian in expressing. Different from SOMENS, the Western Mens challenge has two parts one for theoretical and one practical. The winner of the challenge are as follows. PDF of the solution is linked to the winner(s) name(s) below.