FOR40160 Forest Inventory & Mgmt. Plan

Academic Year 2023/2024

This Stage 4 module builds on students’ prior learning in all aspects of forest practice including silviculture, inventory, harvesting, planning, health and safety, GIS and forest management.
The theoretical concept of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) is translated into practical assessment methodologies and students are introduced to a range of field methods that can be applied to assess progress towards SFM. Practical issues associated with assessing SFM and the principles of multi-resource forest inventory are introduced. The module involves a number of lectures on relevant concepts and procedures before students spend a number of days conducting a multi-resource forest inventory (assessing all productive functions of the forest including timber production capacities, biodiversity indicators and social and cultural elements).
Following the field work / data collection, additional lectures and tutorials introduce appropriate data analysis and report writing methods. Students are required to attend all field days and be properly prepared for the field work, submit a draft of their report and submit a final report based on the data collected during the fieldwork.
In tandem with this, students will produce a ten year management plan based on the tenets of SFM. The plan will include a detailed site description, based on their inventory reports. Applying SFM criteria and indicators (supported by the use of computer-based analysis tools), each student will carry out an analysis of these data, resulting in detailed prescriptions relating to yield regulation, harvest scheduling, silvicultural practices, forest protection, and environmental, cultural, social and economic constraints and objectives. A financial analysis of the proposed plan will also be included.
The teaching strategies used are: a limited number of lectures, introducing concepts and requirements, computer laboratory sessions, introducing students to specialised software, tutorial sessions, dealing with specific problems and questions, and one-to-one plan formulation and report writing sessions with individual students. A foreign excursion will also be undertaken, to evaluate forest management practices in other countries.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module students should be able:

• Translate the concept of SFM into multi-resource inventory indicators
• Develop, carry out and analyse multi-resource inventories
• Produce a multi-resource inventory report, including evaluations of the usefulness and practicality of the demonstrated
technologies and methodologies
• Select management options based on inventory data and management objectives
• Analyse individual stand options with respect to SFM criteria
• Combine individual management options into an integrated forest management strategy
• Formulate a complete forest management plan report based on the integrated set of options


Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

70
Autonomous Student Learning

260
Lectures

45
Practical

20
Field Trip/External Visits

40
Total

435
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module will involve group work, lectures, input from industry, fieldwork, report writing and the use of decision-support software. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Assignment: Draft Inventory Report Week 9 n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

3
Continuous Assessment: Preparedness & Participation Throughout the Trimester n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

8
Practical Examination: Management Planning (advanced) Unspecified n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

10
Assignment: Management Plan Coursework (End of Trimester) n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

40
Fieldwork: 4 field days; brief written report on accomplishments and learnings Week 6 n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

6
Practical Examination: Management Planning Week 6 n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

5
Assignment: Final Inventory Report Coursework (End of Trimester) n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

20
Seminar: Report & Presentation Coursework (End of Trimester) n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

5
Assignment: Draft Management Plan Unspecified n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

3

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Remediation Type Remediation Timing
Repeat Within Two Trimesters
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback will be ongoing - the different strands of the module are interlinked and throughout lectures, fieldwork and group discussions, the students will gain deeper insight to data collection and processing, application of forest policy on the ground and the decision making processes in management planning for large diverse areas of forest.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
 
2 Trimester (Sep-May)
      
Lecture Offering 50 Week(s) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 Mon 09:00 - 12:50
Lecture Offering 50 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Mon 10:00 - 12:50
Field Trip Offering 50 Week(s) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 Mon 13:00 - 17:50
Lecture Offering 50 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Thurs 09:00 - 10:50
Lecture Offering 50 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Thurs 11:00 - 12:50
Lecture Offering 50 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Thurs 13:00 - 16:50
Lecture Offering 50 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Wed 14:00 - 15:50
2 Trimester (Sep-May)