Biltmore stick
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The Biltmore stick is a tool used by foresters to estimate tree trunk
diameter at breast height Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements. Tree trunks are measured at the height of an adult's breast, ...
. The tool very often includes a
hypsometer A hypsometer is an instrument for measuring height or elevation. Two different principles may be used: trigonometry and atmospheric pressure. Etymology The English word ''hypsometer'' originates from the Ancient Greek words ὕψος (húpsos, ...
scale to estimate height as well. It looks much like an everyday yardstick. With practice a Biltmore stick is considered to be exceptionally accurate, more often within on diameters. Some foresters use the tool regularly, however, many prefer to use more accurate tools such as a
diameter tape A diameter tape (D-tape) is a measuring tape used to estimate the diameter of a cylinder object, typically the stem of a tree or pipe. A diameter tape has either metric or imperial measurements reduced by the value of π. This means the tape me ...
to measure
diameter at breast height Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements. Tree trunks are measured at the height of an adult's breast, ...
(DBH) and a
clinometer An inclinometer or clinometer is an instrument used for measuring angles of slope, elevation, or depression of an object with respect to gravity's direction. It is also known as a ''tilt indicator'', ''tilt sensor'', ''tilt meter'', ''slope ...
to measure
height Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is). For example, "The height of that building is 50 m" or "The height of an airplane in-flight is abou ...
. On the other end of the spectrum, some foresters consider the use of a Biltmore stick to be no more accurate than their own visual estimates (based on experience estimating the height and DBH of trees), and make it practice for their surveys to be largely completed in this manner. The Biltmore stick uses the principle of
similar triangles In Euclidean geometry, two objects are similar if they have the same shape, or one has the same shape as the mirror image of the other. More precisely, one can be obtained from the other by uniformly scaling (enlarging or reducing), possibly wit ...
. Similar triangles involve using identical angles but different side lengths.


Use

Diameter at breast height (DBH) is measured by holding the stick a fixed distance, usually , from the eye, and at breast height, which in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
is up the bole of the tree. The left side of the stick is flush with the left side of the tree. The number where the right side of the tree lines up with the stick is the approximate DBH of the tree. To measure height, the user stands a fixed distance from the tree, usually in the United States. The stick is held upright, with the back edge of the stick facing the user. The back edge of the stick will be marked with 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 log markings, indicating the number of logs in a tree. The bottom of the stick should line up with the bottom of the tree's trunk. The height of the tree is how high the tree goes up on the stick to a merchantable top. Tree height is measured to a merchantable top, the point at which a tree can be accepted for use by a
sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...
. This point can be reached either by defects (extreme sweep, crook, deviating branching, or other defects) or at a diameter limit for very straight trees. A common cutoff is diameter, which is acceptable for
pulpwood Pulpwood is timber with the principal use of making wood pulp for paper production. Applications * Trees raised specifically for pulp production account for 15% of world pulp production, old growth forests 9% and second- and third- and more gener ...
.


History

The Biltmore stick is so named because it was developed at the
Biltmore Estate Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 a ...
, one of the first places in the United States where forestry was applied as a science.
Gifford Pinchot Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsy ...
, the future first chief of the United States Forest Service, and then
Carl A. Schenck Carl Alwin Schenck (March 25, 1868 – May 17, 1955) was a German forester and pioneering forestry educator. He founded the Biltmore Forest School, the first forestry school in North America on George W. Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate. His teachin ...
were hired in the 1890s to restore of land around the Biltmore estate to a healthy forest. Schenck was the developer of the Biltmore stick. Ever since this time, the Biltmore stick has been used by foresters to quickly cruise timber.


See also

*
Cruising rod A cruising rod is a simple device used to quickly estimate the number of pieces of lumber yielded by a given piece of timber. Similarly to a yardstick, it is a rod with markings. The estimation is carried out as follows. Standing at arm's length fr ...
*
Relascope The relascope, invented by Walter Bitterlich, is a multi-use instrument for forest inventory. It is primarily used to find the height of a tree, the basal area of a tree, and the diameter of a tree anywhere along the bole. This instrument is use ...


References

* * * * * * * * * {{Forestry tools Length, distance, or range measuring devices Forest modelling Forestry tools Biltmore Forest School American inventions