March 6, 2015
Useful Web Tools for Forest Landowners
This document was developed to assist Forest Landowners with technical reference information
to help educate and inform landowners of useful tools that are free and available to the public.
USDA – www.usda.gov
NRCS WA - http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/wa/home/
WA DNR – www.dnr.wa.gov
WSU Extension - http://forestry.wsu.edu/
NRCS – Electronic Field Office Technical Guide (Efotg)
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/wa/home/
http://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/efotg_locator.aspx?map=
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Use to find Technical Notes that can assist with evaluating resources and
recommendation guidance documents – Section 1
o Forestry Technical Note 10 Forest Stand Density Guide
o Biological Technical Note 14 – Aquatic & Terrestrial Habitat Guide
o Environment Evaluation Worksheet (CAP52) Revised 02/14
 Click on the WA State Laws Tab for useful links
NRCS - Technical Resources – Engineering documents and standard drawings
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/wa/technical/
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Use to find standard engineering designs and drawings
o Forest Roads, Fences, etc.
Parcel Information – County Parcel viewer
https://psearch.kitsapgov.com/webappa/
http://mapmason.co.mason.wa.us/website/mason/viewer.htm
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Use to find County Assessor information on your property
o Use identify button to pull site specific county information for your property
March 6, 2015
Web Soil Survey – Custom Soil Reports for your property
http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/HomePage.htm
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Click on green button to launch WSS
Define your Area of Interest (AOI)
Select different soil reports you would like to pull
Use Add to Cart after each soil report
When all reports are added you can Check Out and download the PDF Custom Soil
Report –No charge or fees
FPARS – Forest Practices Activity Mapping Tool
http://www.dnr.wa.gov/BusinessPermits/Topics/ForestPracticesApplications/Pages/fp_fpars.as
px
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Use to pull DNR maps showing Forest Site Class, Streams, Waterbodies, and
Wetland type.
Link is halfway down the webpage
DNR Garmin
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mis/gis/tools/arcview/extensions/DNRGarmin/DNRGarmin.html
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Useful tool to convert GPS data into different formats
Use anytime I take a GPS waypoint
Department of Ecology – Water Quality Assessment for Washington
https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/wqamapviewer/default.aspx?res=1536x864
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Use to find out stream water typing and impacted waterbodies.
o 303(d) streams and impaired waterbodies
March 6, 2015
USDA Plant Database - Useful Technical Plant information
http://plants.usda.gov/java/
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You can search for any plant by common or scientific names.
Gives great plant specific plant data
o Native, invasive, noxious
o Plant growth characteristics
Pacific Northwest Weed Handbook
http://pnwhandbooks.org/weed/
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Very useful management and chemical information on how to treat vegetation and/or
invasive species to achieve desired management objectives.
USFS – Forest Insect & Disease Leaflets
http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/r6/forest-grasslandhealth/
http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r6/forest-grasslandhealth/insectsdiseases/?cid=stelprdb5300513
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Great technical information on Forest land health
Gives identification guides and recommended treatment to deal with forest insects and
diseases.
Society of American Foresters (SAF) – Forestry resources
http://encyclopediaofforestry.org/index.php/Main_Page
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Encyclopedia of forestry terms
March 6, 2015
Smart Phone Applications:
Note – Phone applications may not be free to download. The links below guide you to the
website. You may have to purchase or find these applications on your smart phone app
purchasing software.
MotionX-GPS – http://gps.motionx.com/
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One stop shop for GPS phone application that can take tracks, points, photos, overlay
maps, and send information from the field to email. I use this 99% of the time in the
field for my GPS. Downfall is it cannot load the map imagery if cell signal is low.
California Soil Resource Lab – Web Soil Survey on your phone
http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/
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The app allows you to get the soil information specifically to the spot you are standing.
o Note – Only one soil series will be available