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| Pre-Commercial Thinning TimberMark™ was originally developed in Maine to fit in the pre-commercial thinning market. Pre-commercial thinning is an intensive forest management tool that reduces tree density by eliminating competition (with brush saws) in naturally regenerated softwood stands; thereby allowing accelerated tree growth to be concentrated on the highest quality stems. In other areas of the US, PCT or plantation cleaning, as it’s sometimes called, is also performed with brush saws in established softwood plantations. These stands are very dense (sometimes exceeding 80,000 trees per acre). Access is often difficult and these stands can be extremely labor intensive to delineate! It is hard to actually see what is on the other side of the 12-20 ft tall “green wall”, and mapping a few hundred acres per week is good production. Performing layout and mapping from the air with TimberMark™ solves all these issues! |
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Harvest Layout Harvest tract boundaries can be easily delineated from the air, producing a line that will be visible to either traditional hand crews or mechanized equipment operators. Paint will be visible on the ground, under story vegetation and trees, making it highly visible. In addition, the tract acreage can be easily determined from the resulting GPS file and used for budgeting, planning and GIS updates.
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Streamside Management Zone The protection of streamside management zones (SMZ’s) and wetlands can be accomplished through the use of TimberMark™. The edge of the sensitive area is flown and mapped using GPS, and the appropriate buffer width is loaded into the system. The buffer edge can then be mapped and painted. This process ensures a consistent buffer width and provides a digital record for GIS updates.
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Herbicide Boundary Layout TimberMark™ can be used for marking the herbicide block boundaries as well as the “invisible buffer” or the GPS generated buffer that falls within the tract and away from the residual timber edge. This is a great tool if a landowner requires an additional check to be sure the herbicide remains within the tract boundaries. It also creates a visible line for the pilot to work off from, rather than free flying or working off from a navigation screen. |
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Road/Skid Trail Layout Since TimberMark™ incorporates the use of GPS, it is possible to layout the centerline and/or sidelines for proposed roads or skid trails. These lines could be established “on-the-fly” or be painted based on predetermined GPS data, with the ability to connect beginning, intermediate and end points for a proposed road or trail. These lines will be readily visible for harvesting or road building equipment to follow. A visual airborne inspection along these lines can be accomplished if desired. |
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Wildlife Habitat Areas Critical wildlife habitat areas can be delineated and mapped with GPS and the appropriate boundaries painted to ensure protection of these important locations. For those areas that have been previously mapped, the corresponding data can be uploaded to TimberMark™ and used to create/paint the desired buffer around the area to be protected.
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