St. Paul District determined to not lose the plot

In an ever-changing world, it is sometimes hard to appreciate just how much things have changed until you take a step back. For some, this is as simple as watching an old movie or opening a dust-bound book. For others, like Josh Stohr and Caleb Redick, it’s not so easy. The two St. Paul District foresters recently completed sampling of permanent forestry plots located in Pools 4 and 5 of the Mississippi River.

Permanent plot sampling is not new to the Corps of Engineers. The process, used to determine the changes to the forest over the course of time, was first completed almost 20 years ago on 110 plots across the district. Armed with GPS plot points and decade old photographs, it is up to Stohr and Redick, with occasional help, to try and find these old plots as they hike through the summer heat. Oftentimes, the only hint is a metal post, its tip spray painted white, planted when the area was first surveyed almost two decades ago.

Once the original plot is found, the work can begin. Equipped with a clipboard and previous measurements, the foresters must first find their witness tree, a tree marked during the original sampling with a scar in the bark. The radius and health of the tree is examined and written down before a new scar is etched. The next step, with the help of a metal detector, is to find the secondary guide poles, smaller rebar stakes that are often hidden under piles of newly deposited sediment. The depth of this sediment is recorded, indicating to the foresters how much sand the Mississippi River has left on the island over the past twenty years, or alternatively, how much has eroded.

The process is thorough. The plant diversity of the understory and herbaceous layers, the soil composition, the presence and size of new trees, the growth and health of old; all must be painstakingly recorded before the group can move on. “The usefulness of this data,” said Redick, “is not only in knowing how the forest has changed across our federal landownership and why, but hopefully in helping us determine where to plant new trees and what species to focus on. In essence, it lets us see the forest for the trees!”

Sometimes there is only enough time in the day to finish one plot. Some are easily accessible; others require a boat and a pair of waders.

Once the tired foresters return from their odyssey, the carefully charted data is put into their database. Here, the new data is compared to the old data and analyzed with the help of the United States Geological Survey. Findings are compared to those in other districts and shared with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The process is finally complete. The Corps of Engineers no longer has to rely on nostalgia to determine how much things have changed; the data paints the picture for them.

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