FOREST VEGETATION SIMULATOR BULLETIN Issued By: USDA FOREST SERVICE WASHINGTON OFFICE DETACHED FORT COLLINS, COLORADO BULLETIN NO: 719 DATE: 12/22/11 VARIANT(S): ALL MAIN TOPICS: 1) SPECIES LIST EXPANSION (CI) 2) CLIMATE EXTENSION UPDATE (EM AND WS) 3) NEW EVENT MONITOR VARIABLES FOR ECON EXTENSION (ALL VARIANTS) 4) DEFAULT SAW TIMBER MERCH. SPECS. CORRECTION (CS) 5) SETTING STAND HABITAT TYPE WITH STDINFO KEYWORD (BM, CA, CI, CR, EC, EM, IE, KT, NC, NI, PN, SO, TT, UT, WC) 6) ASPEN SPROUTS AND MISCELLANEOUS CORRECTIONS (IE) 7) LIMBER PINE GROWTH RATE (EM) 8) DEFAULT VOLUME EQUATION NUMBER FOR DOUGLAS FIR (REGION 6) 9) POTENTIAL INCONSISTENCY IN SERIAL RUNS (NE AND SN) 10) VOLUME CALCULATIONS FOR LARGE TREES (AK) 11) MISCELLANEOUS CORRECTIONS (UT) 12) MISCELLANEOUS CORRECTIONS (TT) 13) MISCELLANEOUS CORRECTIONS (ALL VARIANTS) DESCRIPTION: 1) CI Variant: The Central Idaho (CI) variant has been expanded from 10 individual species and 1 "other" species group for all additional species, to 17 individual species and 2 species groups for other softwoods and other hardwoods. Species now contained in this variant are shown in the table below. Please refer to the variant overview documentation for the model details. FVS Species Alpha FIA Plants Number Common Name Code Code Symbol Scientific Name ------- ------------------------- ----- ---- ------ ------------------------------------ 1 WESTERN WHITE PINE WP 119 PIMO3 PINUS MONTICOLA 2 WESTERN LARCH WL 73 LAOC LARIX OCCIDENTALIS 3 DOUGLAS-FIR DF 202 PSME PSEUDOTSUGA MENZIESII 4 GRAND FIR GF 17 ABGR ABIES GRANDIS 5 WESTERN HEMLOCK WH 263 TSHE TSUGA HETEROPHYLLA 6 WESTERN REDCEDAR RC 242 THPL THUJA PLICATA 7 LODGEPOLE PINE LP 108 PICO PINUS CONTORTA 8 ENGLEMANN SPRUCE ES 93 PIEN PICEA ENGELMANNII 9 SUBALPINE FIR AF 19 ABLA ABIES LASIOCARPA 10 PONDEROSA PINE PP 122 PIPO PINUS PONDEROSA 11 WHITEBARK PINE WB 101 PIAL PINUS ALBICAULIS 12 PACIFIC YEW PY 231 TABR2 TAXUS BREVIFOLIA 13 QUAKING ASPEN AS 746 POTR5 POPULUS TREMULOIDES 14 WESTERN JUNIPER WJ 64 JUOC JUNIPERUS OCCIDENTALIS 15 CURLLEAF MOUNTAIN-MAHOGANY MC 475 CELE3 CERCOCARPUS LEDIFOLIUS 16 LIMBER PINE LM 113 PIFL2 PINUS FLEXILIS 17 BLACK COTTONWOOD CW 747 POBAT POPULUS BALSAMIFERA VAR. TRICHOCARPA 18 OTHER SOFTWOODS OS 298 2TE 19 OTHER HARDWOODS OH 998 2TD New species are modeled using existing growth equations from other species in the CI and other variants. The following Insect and Disease extensions were updated to accommodate the CI variant species expansion. Douglas-fir Beetle extension, Lodgepole Mountain Pine extension, Western Root Disease extension, and the General Defoliation extension. Tree species that had previously been placed in the "other" group that are now represented will be affected when they had been ignored before. The new tree species and groups are: whitebark pine Pacific yew quaking aspen Western juniper curlleaf mountain-mahogany limber pine black cotton wood other softwoods other hardwoods Even though some tree species now represented may not be host to a given insect or pathogen, their recognition and presence can alter the behavior of the models. 2) EM and WS variants: The Climate extensions for the EM and WS variants were not updated when the variant species lists were expanded in May of 2011 (see FVS Update Bulletin No. 715). This has been corrected. 3) All variants: Two new Event Monitor variables have been added to the Economic Extension (ECON). These variables represent the cubic foot and board foot harvest volumes that ECON valued. Depending on ECON keywords, these variable values may be substantially different from the harvest amounts listed elsewhere by FVS, e.g., some harvest volume may have no economic value because log sizes or species were not saleable. ECCUFT cubic feet valued by ECON ECBDFT board feet valued by ECON 4) CS variant: The default sawtimber Merch. Specs. for eastern redcedar on the Mark Twain NF in the Central States variant were incorrect. They were changed so the sawtimber minimum DBH is 6.0 inches, and the sawtimber minimum top diameter is 5.0 inches. 5) BM, CA, CI, CR, EC, EM, IE, KT, NC, NI, PN, SO, TT, UT, WC, and WS variants: When using FSveg data, the PV Code / PV Reference Code sets are cross walked to a stand habitat type that FVS recognizes. There was a problem if a user reassigned the stand habitat type to an FVS habitat type code with a StdInfo keyword after a PV Code / PV Reference Code set had been processed. This has been corrected. 6) IE variant: Several updates and corrections were made to the IE variant. Code to calculate the number of aspen sprouts has been changed. The formula is based on research by Glen Crouch (RMRS), and is modified by the proportion of aspen basal area cut. Height growth multipliers entered via the READCORH keyword were not being applied to large tree height growth estimates for limber pine, pinyon pine, Rocky Mtn juniper, Pacific yew, quaking aspen, cottonwood species, Rocky Mtn maple, paper birch, or other hardwoods. This has been corrected. An equality check affecting growth rates for small trees of limber pine and Pacific yew has been corrected from "greater than" to "less than or equal". Potential height growth equations for pinyon pine, Rocky Mountain juniper, cottonwood, and other hardwoods have been improved. Also, a problem with small tree height growth calibration for these species was corrected. Small tree height growth estimates for quaking aspen, mountain maple, and paper birch were corrected. This problem only affected these species beginning in the second cycle. Growth equations used for limber pine were fit using base age 50 site index. Site index for this species in IE is entered as base age 100. An internal conversion to an equivalent base age 50 value was added. Height growth estimates in the regeneration establishment model were being incorrectly scaled to the cycle length for pinyon pine, Rocky Mountain juniper, quaking aspen, cottonwood, Rocky mountain maple, paper birch, and other hardwoods. This problem was fixed. Dead trees were removed from the calculation of MAI for site index adjustment of limber pine and Pacific yew. 7) EM variant: An equality check affecting limber pine, introduced during expansion of the EM variant, has been corrected from "greater than" to "less than or equal". This affects the growth rate of limber pine. 8) BM, CA, EC, IE, NC, NI, PN, SO, and WC variants: The default Volume Equation Number for Douglas fir in R6 was corrected to equal I11FW2W202. 9) NE, and SN variants: Serial runs could potentially produce inconsistent results. This has been corrected. 10) AK variant: The modules used to evaluate profile models were updated to avoid potential numerical errors. The algorithms used to evaluate volumes using the Demars and Curtis profile models were changed for trees having DBH greater than or equal to 9.0 inches and height greater than or equal to 40 ft. 11) UT variant: Small tree height growth rates for aspen on tripled tree records were incorrect. This problem has been corrected. When using the DGSTDEV keyword with a value less than 1.0, the random component of dubbed crown ratios for trees less than 1.0" in dbh was not being turned off. This has been corrected. Dead trees were removed from the calculation of MAI for site index adjustment of whitebark pine, limber pine, lodgepole pine, and other softwoods. 12) TT variant: In the TT variant, when the site species was limber pine, the mean annual increment parameter needed for some equation estimates was not being calculated. This was corrected. Removed dead trees from the calculation of MAI for site index adjustment of whitebark pine, limber pine, lodgepole pine, and other softwoods. 13) ALL variants: Miscellaneous corrections, that apply to all variants, are as follows. There was a problem writing the FVS_Hrv_Carbon table to a generic database. This has been corrected. Excessive tree heights were causing array storage overflow in volume calculations. When this condition is encountered the trees are assigned zero volume, and processing continues. The estimated height was not being populated in the database cutlist table. This has been corrected. The "Year" column was added to the tables created with the generic database option. RESULT/IMPACT: Users of the CI variant should obtain a new executable to take advantage of the expanded species list. Users of the Eastern Montana, and Western Sierra climate extensions should obtain new executables. There are new EM variables available for the ECON extension. Users who write the FVS_Hrv_Carbon table to a generic database should obtain a new executable. When using READCORH in the IE variant, output for limber pine, Pacific yew, pinyon pine,Rocky Mountain juniper, cottonwood, other hardwoods, quaking aspen, mountain maple, or paper birch will be different. Projections involving limber pine in the EM variant will be different. In the UT variant, projections involving aspen less than 4.0" dbh will be different. Projections using the DGSTDEV keyword to shut off randomization will be different if they contain trees with dbh less than 1.0" with no measured crown ratios. In the Tongass NF (Forests 1002, 1003, 1005) and the British Columbia / Makah Indian Reservation (Forest 701) the red alder volumes are affected for diameters greater than or equal to 9 in DBH and heights greater than or equal to 40 feet. Also, Merch. board feet volumes are now available for red alder in this forest. In the Chugach NF (Forest 1004), volumes for white spruce, western redcedar, Pacific silver fir, mountain hemlock, western hemlock, Alaska-cedar, lodgepole pine, Sitka spruce, subalpine fir, red alder, black cottonwood, other hardwoods, and other softwoods are affected for trees having diameters greater than or equal to 9.0 inches DBH and heights greater than or equal to 40 feet. In addition Merch. board feet volumes are now available for red alder in the Chugach NF.