GIS education at the Forest Engineering Department

Currently, FE 357 GIS and Forest Engineering Applications, is offered to students who wish to learn more about GIS and other spatial tool applications in forestry. To see a syllabus for FE 357, click on the following link: GIS and Forest Engineering Applications.

GIS tools at the Forest Engineering Department

With a combination of GIS and statistical software, the Department of Forest Engineering conducts a variety of spatial analysis projects that involve forested systems. Current hardware includes a collection of workstations, plotters, and digitizers.

Current Spatial Analysis Projects at the Forest Engineering Department

1. Stream habitat survey data. Data collected from over 1,200 streams in western Oregon are being examined through the use of GIS and statistical software. Goals of the study are to discern the utility of the database for assessing fish habitat quality and to investigate local and regional patterns in the data. See abstract of submitted manuscript.

2. Large woody debris. The aggradation of large woody debris is being studied in three western Oregon streams. Of interest is the change of wood accumulation over time. Geostatistical tools are being used to describe the spatial distributions of wood and answer research questions. See abstract of published paper.

3. Visual assessment. Visibility analyses are being conducted using forest stand and visitor data from McDonald Forest. The goal of the project is to estimate the relative visibility of all stands in the forest. See abstract of in press manuscript.

4. Landslides, debris flows, and aquatic habitat. Landslides in forested areas are of interest to many Oregonians as they may pose significant threats to human safety, human structures, and other resources within the forest. This research seeks to identify forested areas in western Oregon that are at high risk of shallow landslides and to assess the impact of debris flows on another critical resource in Oregon: aquatic habitat. See paper that was presented at GIS/EM4 2000 meeting.

We've developed a map of Oregon that identifies the reference numbers (known as OHIO code) associated with USGS quadrangles. Please follow the link below if you're interested.

Oregon Clickable Image maps.

For more information about these projects:

Dr. Michael Wing

Room: 212 Peavy Hall
Phone: (541) 737-4009
Fax: (541) 737-4316
Email: Michael.Wing@oregonstate.edu