Taper, volume, and weight of small black cherry and red maple trees in West Virginia

Abstract

Taper, cubic foot volume, and green weight equations to multiple top diameters were developed for the main bole portion of small-diameter black cherry (BC; Prunus serotina Ehrh.) and red maple (RM; Acer rubrum L.) trees in northern West Virginia. Sample trees were selected from the 2- to 5-in.-diameter class and ranged from 30 to 60 ft in total height. Existing published cubic foot volume equations provided estimates from 6 to 40% lower than estimates from the proposed model form, depending on species and tree size. Based on the published weight equations selected for comparison, differences between the estimates from the proposed models and from the published model with the smallest weight difference from a pool of candidate models, total bole green weight was underestimated from 5 to 93% for BC and from 0.4 to 25% for RM, depending on species and tree size. Copyright © 2007 by the Society of American Foresters.