Deriving wood quality properties through their links with tree and stand attributes

One of the important Canadian Wood Fibre Centre’s mandates is to develop methods to facilitate the flow of information on the wood quality and quantity along the chain of forest values. Among its research projects, one entitled Enhanced Forest Inventory aims to produce tools to map the wood attributes in terms of physico-mechanical properties by using prediction models based on the attributes of the forest tree and stand. The main inputs of these models come from non-destructive measurements on standing trees (acoustic probe, resistograph, terrestrial lidar) and from spatial data (aerial lidar). Among the obtained results, the correlations are significant between acoustic velocity, drill resistance, tree and stand attributes. These results open the prospect of using the data of non destructive measurements such as acoustic probe and resistograph as complementary input with tree and stand attributes (dbh, crown, and competition index) for prescribing the intensity of thinning to a desired level of wood density.Godkänd; 2012; 20121026 (aliwan