Sticks plus trees meets 3P

A common means of obtaining a quick estimate of standing cords per acre in Lake States forestry practice is to apply the rule-of-thumb: sticks plus trees divided by two. The rule-of-thumb assumes use of a 10-BAF angle gauge or prism. It is not uncommon that a forester will, through experience, have developed an adjustment factor for the rule-of-thumb, for example, one might reduce or increase the result by 8%, given particular stand conditions. In fact, such an adjustment factor likely should be developed on a cruise-by-cruise basis. Probability proportional to prediction sampling provides one rigorous and effective means of doing so.