Taper, Volume, and Weight Equations for Red Pine in West Virginia
Abstract Compatible taper, volume, and weight equations were developed for planted red pine in West Virginia. The data were based on stem analysis of 26 trees from West Virginia University Research Forest, located in northern West Virginia. A commonly used segmented polynomial taper equation was chosen because of its balance between prediction accuracy and ease of use. Seemingly unrelated regression was used to simultaneously fit the system of equations for inside and outside bark data. When compared with existing total stem volume equations developed by Fowler (Fowler, G.W., 1997, Individual tree volume equations for red pine in Michigan, North. J. Appl. For. 14:53–58) and by Gilmore et al. (Gilmore, D.W., et al., 2005, Thinning red pine plantations and the Langsaeter hypothesis: A northern Minnesota case study. North, J. Appl. For. 22:19–25), a positive bias was evident that increased directly with stem diameter for trees from this region.