United States

Department of

Agriculture

Forest Service

Southern

Research Station

General Technical

Report SRS–95

PINEVOL: A User’s Guide 

to a Volume Calculator for 

Southern Pines

Daniel J. Leduc
August 2006

Southern Research Station

P.O. Box 2680

Asheville, NC 28802

Cover photo: The PINEVOL title screen that introduces the program

The Author

Daniel J. Leduc, Information Technology Specialist, 

USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 

Pineville, LA.


Pinevol: A User’s Guide to a

Volume Calculator for Southern Pines

Daniel J. Leduc
ii
iii

Contents

Page

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 1

	 Model Design and Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 1

	 Base Taper Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 1

	 Cubic Volume Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 2

	 Board Foot Volume Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 2

Program Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 3

	 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 3

	 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 3

	 Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 3

	 Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 4

	 Batch Mode Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 6

Interactive Mode Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 10

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 10

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 11

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 11

Literature Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	 12
iv


Pinevol: A User’s Guide to a Volume 

Calculator for Southern Pines

Daniel J. Leduc

Abstract

Taper functions describe a model of the actual geometric shape of a tree. 

When this shape is assumed to be known, volume by any log rule and to any 

merchantability standard can be calculated. PINEVOL is a computer program 

for calculating the volume of the major southern pines using species-specific 

bole taper functions. It can use the Doyle, Scribner, or International 1⁄4-inch 

log rules or calculate solid wood volume inside or outside of bark. This 

document describes the methods used in volume calculation in PINEVOL and 

is a program user’s guide.

Keywords: Loblolly pine, longleaf pine, shortleaf pine, slash pine, stem 

profile equations, taper functions.

Introduction

Tree volume is an important determinant of timber value. 

Information about tree volume is also important to those 

who evaluate alternatives to cutting and important forest 

characteristics like carbon sequestration. Volume growth 

information, which is based on volume calculations, can be 

more than just a measure of investment potential; it can 

describe the cumulative effects of the environment on trees 

since the bole develops and persists over time. 

There are many ways to calculate tree volume. These range 

from tables like those presented in Miscellaneous Publication 

50 (U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service 1976) to 

stem profile functions of the form suggested by Bennett and 

others (1978), which are used in this program. The form of 

stem profile function chosen works well and several authors 

who will be mentioned below have used it for a variety of 

species of southern pines. However, using a stem profile 

function to calculate volume is mathematically intensive. 

PINEVOL is a Visual Basic® program that performs all of 

the necessary calculations to calculate volume by several log 

rules to any desired merchantability limits. 

Model Design and Assumptions

PINEVOL is based on the taper function developed by 

Bennett and others (1978). This model has been applied to 

most of the major southern pine species. A list of these 

species and the authors who prepared the models is 

presented in table 1.

This taper model allows volume calculation for any portion 

of a tree simply by integrating the function over height for 

any given upper and lower height. Volumes can also be 

calculated using a piecewise method if the upper and lower 

diameters of each piece are known. 

Bennett and others (1978) provided one set of parameters 

for inside bark taper and another for outside bark taper. In 

order to increase the accuracy of these taper functions, each 

parameter set was further subdivided into three crown ratio 

classes, resulting in six sets of parameters for taper (Dell 

and others 1979, Feduccia and others 1979). A function for 

converting outside bark diameter at breast height in inches 

to inside bark diameter at breast height in inches was also 

calculated for each species and crown ratio class. 

Base Taper Function 

Bennett and others (1978) derive the following taper function:

(1)

 where

bi = estimated regression parameters

d = predicted stem diameter (inches) at height h

D = diameter at breast height (inches)

h = height above groundline (feet) 

H = total tree height (feet)

hs= stump height above groundline (feet)


Cubic Volume Calculation

Integrating equation (1) with respect to height of the base and 

top of the piece provides one means to estimate piece volume 

(Bennett and others 1978). Bennett and others (1978) divided 

this integral to predict volumes for parts above and below D 

(if both parts are included, simply add the partial volumes 

together). 

(2a)

(2b)

where

and hL and hU are the lower and upper piece heights, respectively. The Ri

variables are used just to make equation (2b) 

more tractable. Volume could also be obtained numerically 

by quadrature, but this method is not discussed here.

Board Foot Volume Calculation 

Some forest products are not measured in ways that are simply 

geometrical. For these, the taper function can be used to find 

the diameter at various heights. In turn, this information can 

Table 1—Descriptions and limits of the models used for taper functions in PINEVOL. In many cases these 

limits were not shown by the original authors so the average of the remaining models was used for limits 

and these limits are shown in parentheses 

D.b.h. Height Crown

Citation Species Location range range ratio range Trees

inches	 feet	 percent	 number

Baldwin and Planted longleaf Central Louisiana 1 – 21 12 – 90 (14 – 89) 113

Polmer 1981  pine (Pinus and east Texas

palustris Mill.)

Dell and Planted slash West Gulf (1 – 23) (8 – 105) (14 – 89) 3,784a

others 1979 pine (P. elliottii

Engelm.) 

Farrar 1987 Natural longleaf East Gulf 1 – 23 5 – 105 (14 – 89) 214

pine

Farrar and Natural shortleaf West Gulf 1 – 26 8 – 107 16 – 86 342

Murpy 1987 pine (P. echinata

Mill.)

Farrar and Natural loblolly West Gulf 1 – 34 9 – 119 13 – 93 268

Murphy 1988 pine (P. taeda L.)

Feduccia and Planted loblolly West Gulf (1 – 23) (8 – 105) (14 – 89) 100

others 1979 pine

a This represents the number of upper stem taper measurements since the number of trees was not given.
be used to assemble product volumes as if one were physically scaling the tree. For instance, PINEVOL can determine 

tree volumes using Doyle, Scribner, and International 1⁄4-inch 

rules. Doyle and Scribner are based on 16-foot logs with a 

trim allowance of 0.3 feet added for each 16-foot log. The 

International 1⁄4-inch rule is based on 4-foot sections with the 

same trim allowance added every 16 feet. 

For Doyle and Scribner rules, PINEVOL performs the 

following steps:

1. Sets the saw-log height utilized (HSAW) to the stump 

height and calculates the height of the tree (MERHT) to 

the specified minimum diameter for saw logs

2. Finds the minimum of the unused log (MERHT- HSAW) 

or a standard log (16 feet) and calls it the new piece

3. Sets the length of the new piece to be an even 2-foot 

interval equal to or lower than its current length

4. Checks whether the top of this piece with trim allowance 

added is still less than MERHT, and subtracts 2 feet if it isn’t

5. Calculates the new HSAW as the sum of the previous 

HSAW plus the new piece length plus the trim allowance 

and finds the scaling diameter at the top of this piece

6. Calculates the volume of this piece using the appropriate 

volume equation [equation (3) or (4)] and adds it to the 

total volume

The actual volume equations used are from the “Forestry 

Handbook” (Wenger 1984):

(3)

(4)

where

	 	 ds = the scaling diameter (inches) of the piece 

 L = its length (feet) 

7. Loops back to step 2 until there is not at least a 2-foot 

section remaining below MERHT

The process for calculating the volume by the International 

1⁄4-inch rule is slightly different; PINEVOL

1. Sets the saw-log height utilized (HSAW) to the stump 

height, calculates the height of the tree (MERHT) to the 

specified minimum diameter for saw logs, sets the number 

of pieces (NPIECE) to one, and sets the length of a piece 

(LPIECE) to 4 feet

2. Finds the new HSAW by either adding LPIECE and a trim 

allowance to the existing saw-log height if NPIECE is a 

multiple of four (16-foot log) or the last possible piece on 

the tree or by just adding LPIECE if it is in the middle of 

the log—increments NPIECE by one

3. Calculates the scaling diameter at HSAW

4. Calculates the volume of this piece using the appropriate 

mathematical volume equation [equation (5)] and adds it 

to the total volume

Int 1⁄4-inch Volume = (5)

5. Increments NPIECE by one and sets LPIECE to 4 feet 

6. Determines if HSAW plus LPIECE plus trim allowance 

will fit below MERHT and if not reduces LPIECE by 2 

feet—repeats this until LPIECE is < 2 feet in length

7. If LPIECE is at least 2 feet in length loops back to step 2

Program Operation

System Requirements

PINEVOL is a Windows® program so some version of 

Microsoft Windows 95 or higher is necessary. At least 10 

MB of hard disk space for installation of the program and 

help files will be required. When running, the program uses 

7 MB of RAM. The minimum screen resolution for this 

program is 1024 X 768. Lower resolutions do not prevent 

the program from running, but several of the screens will 

not fit entirely on the monitor.

Installation

PINEVOL is a standard Windows® program complete with 

an installation package packed in a ZipTM file. This ZipTM file is 

available at http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/4111/techtrans.htm or 

by request from the author. To perform the installation a 

user has to open the ZipTM file, double click on setup.exe, and 

follow the prompts. Administrative privileges are not 

required to install PINEVOL. On some systems, such as 

Windows 2000®, there might be a warning about the 

possible need for administrative privileges but they are not 

necessary since PINEVOL does not change your system 

settings in any significant way. PINEVOL can be removed 

from a system via the Add/Remove Programs icon in the 

Windows® Control Panel.

Usage

If installed with the installation program, PINEVOL can be 

selected and run from the Start menu. This will produce the 

title screen shown in figure 1.
The title screen remains for up to 5 seconds. Click on the box 

labeled Pinevol and the Volume Parameters screen (fig. 2) 

will appear immediately.

This screen is used to specify the parameters that affect what 

trees and what parts of those trees will be included in volume. 

PINEVOL assumes that total volume is always from 

groundline to the tip of the crown. However, merchantable 

and saw-log volumes can have variable stump heights, 

minimum breast height diameters, or minimum inside or 

outside bark top diameters.

PINEVOL looks for stored volume parameters in the file 

volume.prm in the install folder of this program. If 

PINEVOL fails to locate volume.prm, it applies a set of 

changeable default values. To replace the existing 

volume.prm file or create a new one, check the box 

“Save for future runs” before continuing. 

The next screen (fig. 3) presents the user with a choice of 

modes of operation. PINEVOL can operate in either batch or 

interactive mode. The batch mode reads a data file for multiple 

stems and creates a new file containing volume estimates, 

whereas the interactive mode allows the user to input the 

parameters for individual trees. 

Output

Whether the batch mode or the interactive mode is chosen, 

PINEVOL calculates the same information. Only the format 

differs. The first variable calculated is crown ratio. This is 

very important because the mathematical models used in 

this program rely on crown ratio to determine which taper 

parameters will be used. Next, PINEVOL shows which of 

the three crown ratio classes is actually used Crown ratio 

class 1 is for crown ratios < 36 percent, crown ratio class 2 

is for crown ratios from 36 to 50 percent, and crown ratio 

class 3 is for crown ratios that exceed 50 percent. Girard 

form class, or the percentage ratio of the inside bark diameter 

at the top of the first log to d.b.h. outside bark, is presented. 

Merchantable height is the height to the diameter specified 

for merchantable volume, and height to a saw-log top is the 

height to the diameter specified for sawtimber volume. 

Figure 1—The Pinevol title screen that introduces the program.

Program written by:

Daniel J. Leduc

Southern Research Station, RWU-4111

2500 Shreveport Hwy

Pineville, LA 71360

(318) 473-7243

based upon a program originally written by

Paul A. Murphy, SOFES-RWU-4106, Monticello, AR

Equation coefficients come from Research Papers

SO-147, SO-148, SO-234, and SO-243 as well as

Proc. 1st SSRC, pp 156-163 and SJAF 11 (3).
Figure 3—The Mode of Operation screen lets the user choose to process a file in batch mode or use the program 

as an interactive volume calculator.

You can read data from a file (batch) and write output volumes to a file or you can

interactively supply data and get immediate results (interactive).

Figure 2—The Volume Parameters screen is used to customize the calculated volume standards and also 

provides a save option for later use.

9

0.5

8

3.6

0.5

3

These parameters come from the file volume .prm in the same directory as

this program. You can alter them for just this run or check the box before

continuing to save for future runs.
When a tree with a given saw-log height is actually broken 

into logs with trim allowance, usually the full height to a 

saw-log top cannot be used. Saw-log height actually utilized 

is the part that can. Total cubic-foot volume inside bark and 

total cubic-foot volume outside bark are volumes from the 

base to the tip of the tree. Merchantable volume inside bark 

and merchantable volume outside bark are volumes in cubic 

feet from stump height to the height of the specified 

merchantable diameter. The stump height used depends on 

the size of the tree. The saw-log stump height is used for 

trees that are large enough to have saw-log volume, and 

merchantable stump height is used for smaller trees. Sawlog volume inside bark and saw-log volume outside bark are 

the volumes in cubic feet from the saw-log stump height to 

the saw-log height actually utilized. Note that one can calculate the pulpwood harvest by subtracting saw-log volume 

from the merchantable volume in cubic feet. Volume by the 

Doyle rule, volume by the Scribner rule, and volume by the 

International 1⁄4-inch rule are volumes in board feet by the 

most commonly used log rules. All of the volumes calculated are independent. This means that total tree volume 

includes merchantable tree volume. To calculate the unmerchantable portion of a tree, one can subtract merchantable 

volume from total volume.

Batch Mode Operation

Once batch mode is selected, the user is prompted to identify 

the data file (fig. 4). By default, only files with a .dat extension are shown. However, other specific extensions (such as 

.txt) can be used. PINEVOL input files must be ASCII text 

files and must contain at least a tree identification, a species 

code, a stand origin indicator (0 = natural, 1 = planted), a 

d.b.h. in inches, a total height in feet, and a height to the 

base of live crown in feet. Several arrangements of these 

variables are possible in delimited files or any arrangement 

is possible in a fixed-column format file. There is an 

example in figure 5. Most application-specific files like 

Word®, Excel®, or WordPerfect® have invisible formatting 

characters embedded in them that this program cannot read. 

Your file can have headers or footers since the starting line 

and number of lines to process are selected at run time. 

Comments and data cannot be intermixed unless each block 

of data is processed in a separate run. Acceptable species 

codes and stand origin values are listed in table 2.

After an input file is selected, an output file must be identified 

(fig. 6). By default, only files with the extension .txt are 

listed, but all files can be shown. PINEVOL creates an 

ASCII text file with a header line and one line for each tree 

processed (fig. 7). In addition to presenting the calculated 

variables described above, each output tree line begins with 

tree identification information followed by the species code, 

d.b.h., height to the base of the live crown, and total height.

The next screen displays the full path of your input and 

output files and the first 100 lines of the input file (fig. 8). 

There is no limit to the number of trees that can be processed, 

but the file display is limited to 100 lines to save memory. 

To continue, select the format of your data using the combo 

box beneath the file display. Several delimited formats and 

fixed-column format are available.

Figure 4—The program uses a standard Windows® common dialog box for the selection of a file to 

be processed. The default file extension is .dat.
In delimited formats, the input variables must be separated 

by nonnumeric characters (spaces or commas are preferred 

for readability). All characters to the left of the required 

numeric data are considered tree identification information, 

and this is copied to the output file. The length of the tree 

identification information in the output file is determined by 

its apparent length in the first record processed.

If the fixed-column format is used, the input file columns that 

contain the required information will have to be specified. In 

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Figure 5—An example of an input file in fixed-column format. This file, 

which has no header information, has a plot identifier, a species code, 

a planting indicator, a d.b.h., a height to base of live crown, and a total 

height. There are some intentional errors in this file so that their effects can 

be shown in the output and log files.

Table 2—Species codes, species names, and the taper 

models available in this program

Species

code Species name Models available

110 Shortleaf pine 0 = Natural (Farrar and

 (Pinus echinata Murphy 1987)

 Mill.)

111 Slash pine 1 = Planted (Dell and others

 (P. elliottii  1979)

 Engelm.)

121 Longleaf pine 0 = Natural (Farrar 1987)

 (P. palustris	 1 = Planted (Baldwin and 

 Mill.) Polmer 1981)

131 Loblolly pine 0 = Natural (Farrar and 

 (P. taeda L.) Murphy 1988)

 = Planted (Feduccia and

 others 1979)

Figure 6—The program uses a standard Windows® common dialog box for the specification of a 

file to save results in. The default file extension is .txt.
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������

Figure 7—An example of the output file produced by a batch-mode run of PINEVOL. The first few columns are the information selected as a plot description. The columns with headers are species, planting indicator, d.b.h., height to the base of the live crown, total height, crown ratio, crown ratio class, form class, merchantable height, saw-log height, height of saw logs actually used when saw-log volume is calculated, total cubic-foot volume inside bark, total cubic-foot volume outside bark, merchantable volume inside bark in cubic feet, merchantable volume outside bark in cubic feet, saw-log volume inside bark in cubic feet , saw-log volume outside bark in cubic feet, saw-log volume by the Doyle log rule, saw-log volume by the Scribner rule, and saw-log volume by the International 1⁄4-inch rule. If there are warnings or errors, a message is appended to the line. This output corresponds to the input file from figure 5.
this format column numbers can be entered if they are 

known, but PINEVOL does have a tool to determine these 

column numbers. The procedure is best explained by a video 

in the help file. Basically, this tool allows the user to select 

variables in the input file preview, and the first and last 

columns as well as the line in the file are displayed immediately beneath the box. Transfer buttons are available to copy 

these values to the input boxes for each variable. The row in 

the file is always displayed but is primarily used to specify a 

starting row beneath any header information. For completeness, there is also a last row to process option. There is no 

transfer button for this function since, in most cases, this row 

will not appear within the first 100 rows. The value defaults 

to the last line in the file, but can be changed by the user.

In fixed-column format, whatever columns might constitute 

tree and plot information can be selected, or even the entire 

observation can be selected. These data are simply copied to 

the output file and can include spaces and overlap the real 

numeric variables. 

When all of the columns and rows have been filled in, a click 

of the calculate volumes button will start the calculation 

process. If a line of data cannot be interpreted as tree data an 

Figure 8—The File Specification and Format screen shows the names of the input and output files and some sample lines from 

the input file. It is used to define the format of the input data so that the proper columns of numbers can be used in calculations.

C:\Documents and Settings\dleduc\My Documents\programs\VisualBASIC\Pinevol\arkorig.dat

C:\Documents and Settings\dleduc\My Documents\programs\VisualBASIC\Pinevol\arkorig.txt

1 131 1 12. 60 70

1 131 1 30. 35 70

1 131 1 12. 20 70

1 131 1 8. 40 50

1 131 1 8. 25 50

1 131 1 8. 10 50

1 131 1 4. 25 30

1 131 1 4. 15 30

delimited: treelD, dbh, totht, hblc, species, planted

1 49
10

Figure 9—An example of PINEVOL.LOG showing the form of error messages. These messages correspond to the input 

file shown in figure 5.

error box will pop up and calculation will be stopped so that 

the input file can be fixed. If any individual variable cannot 

be read as a number, it is set to zero. If any of the numeric 

data would result in a failed calculation (for example, 0 for 

d.b.h., height to base of live crown, or total height or an 

invalid species code) that line is marked as an error, and all 

output volumes will be set to zero, but calculation continues 

with the next tree. An error message will be written into 

Pinevol.log (fig. 9). If the d.b.h. or total height or 

height to base of live crown is outside of the range used to 

develop these taper functions, the user will be warned, but 

the calculation will proceed. The warnings will indicate 

which variable was out of range. A summary box will appear 

indicating the number of records processed. After PINEVOL 

completes its calculations, exit the program and use any text 

editor to review the results or stay in the program and pick a 

new file to process.

Interactive Mode Operation

If interactive mode is chosen, the screen shown in figure 10 

will appear. In interactive mode species selection is presented 

as option buttons, and the d.b.h. (in inches), total height (in 

feet), and height to the base of the live crown (in feet) are 

entered manually in text boxes. After this data is entered, 

clicking on the calculate button will calculate volume. 

Changes to any of the input tree parameters after volume has 

been calculated produces a warning that the calculated 

numbers shown on the screen are no longer applicable to the 

current tree (fig. 11).

The interactive mode screen also has a button to change 

volume calculation parameters. This button returns the user 

to the screen where stump height, minimum d.b.h., and 

minimum top diameter for merchantable and saw-log trees 

is specified. The results can be printed by clicking the 

“Print” button. 

Troubleshooting

PINEVOL uses the standard Windows install routine. This 

can fail on some systems. If it does, the Pinevol.cab file 

can be unpacked with “Extract /E Pinevol.cab” and 

Pinevol.exe can be run. Doing this will not set up the 

directory in the Program Files directory or add the program 

to your Start menu, but the program should run. But it is also 

possible that the .dll files might have to be registered with 

Windows. The basic syntax for doing that is “RegsvR32 

Filename.dll” for each of the .dll files in the .cab

file. Neither of these corrective actions should be necessary.

When PINEVOL is running, anticipated errors will generate 

warning or error messages. In batch mode the user is warned 

that there may be errors and each line of output is flagged 

for errors, but the actual error messages are contained in a 

file called Pinevol.log located in the same directory as 

the output file. These messages indicate the line number of 

the input file on which the error occurred as well as some 

explanation of what caused the error. An example log file is 

shown in figure 9.

The equations used in these volume models were developed 

for a specific range of data. The user is allowed to specify 

trees that are not within the recommended ranges, but a 

warning message will be printed if this is done. Warnings in 

��������� �������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������� �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������� ������������������������������������������ ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������� ������������������������������������������ ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������� ���������������������������������������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������� �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

������
11

Figure 10—The Interactive Data Entry screen requires the selection of a species and entry of a d.b.h., total height, and 

height to base of live crown for the tree of interest. Limits are shown for the selected species and all calculated volumes 

are shown on the lower portion of the screen.

the output file for batch mode are appended to the end of 

output lines and just indicate the tree parameter that is out of 

range. Examples of warnings and errors are shown in the 

example output file (fig. 7). The user can choose to ignore 

these messages or find a more suitable model for these 

special cases. In interactive mode the warnings are similar 

and the program will refuse to calculate results if attempting 

to do so would result in a mathematical error.

Conclusion

PINEVOL is a handy program for calculating the volume of 

southern pine trees. It has been used internally for a number 

of years, but has now been repackaged for the general public. 

Visual Basic® source is also available upon request.

Acknowledgments

I want especially to acknowledge the contributions of Paul 

Murphy (Southern Research Station, deceased) who wrote 

the original FORTRAN version of this program. I would 

also like to thank Michael Shelton, Les Groom, James D. 

Haywood, Don Bragg, Kelly Peterson, and Jeff Goelz (all of 

the Southern Research Station), and Chi-Leung So 

(Louisiana State University) for their valuable suggestions on 

program development and documentation. I would like to 

further thank Kelly Peterson and Don Bragg for their helpful 

reviews of this publication.
12

24

99

74

Figure 11—Once volume has been calculated and any tree specification has been changed the results of the previous 

calculation are changed to red and a warning is printed that these are no longer the correct results. The previous 

volume results are not cleared so that the user can observe volume changes when the Calculate button is clicked.

Literature Cited

Baldwin, V.C., Jr.; Polmer, B.H. 1981. Taper functions for unthinned longleaf pine plantations on cutover west gulf sites. In: Barnett, J.P., ed. 

Proceedings of the first biennial southern silvicultural research conference.

Gen. Tech. Rep. SO–34. New Orleans: U.S. Department of Agriculture 

Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station: 156-163.

Bennett, F.A.; Lloyd, F.T.; Swindel, B.F.; Whitehorne, E.W. 1978. Yields 

of veneer and associated products from unthinned, old-field plantations 

of slash pine in the north Florida and south Georgia flatwoods Res. Pap. 

SE–176. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, 

Southeastern Forest Experiment Station. 80 p.

Dell, T.R.; Feduccia, D.P.; Campbell, T.E. [and others]. 1979. Yields of 

unthinned slash pine plantations on cutover sites in the west gulf region. 

Res. Pap. SO–147. New Orleans: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest 

Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station. 84 p.

Farrar, R.M., Jr. 1987. Stem-profile functions for predicting multipleproduct volumes in natural longleaf pines. Southern Journal of Applied 

Forestry. 11(3): 161-167.

Farrar, R.M., Jr.; Murphy, P.A. 1987. Taper functions for predicting 

product volumes in natural shortleaf pines. Res. Pap. SO–234. New 

Orleans: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Forest 

Experiment Station. 9 p.

Farrar, R.M., Jr.; Murphy, P.A. 1988. A versatile volume defining function 

for natural loblolly pine trees. Res. Pap. SO–243. New Orleans: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment 

Station. 9 p.

Feduccia, D.P.; Dell, T.R.; Mann, W.F., Jr. [and others]. 1979. Yields of 

unthinned loblolly pine plantations on cutover sites in the west gulf 

region. Res. Pap. SO–148. New Orleans: U.S. Department of Agriculture 

Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station. 88 p.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. 1976. Volume, yield, and 

stand tables for second-growth southern pines. Misc. Publ. 50. 

Washington, DC. 202 p.

Wenger, K.F., ed. 1984. Forestry handbook. 2d ed. New York: John Wiley 

and Sons. 1335 p. 
Leduc, Daniel J. 2006. PINEVOL: a user’s guide to a volume calculator 

for southern pines. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS–95. Asheville, NC: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 

12 p.

Taper functions describe a model of the actual geometric shape of a 

tree. When this shape is assumed to be known, volume by any log rule 

and to any merchantability standard can be calculated. PINEVOL is 

a computer program for calculating the volume of the major southern 

pines using species-specific bole taper functions. It can use the Doyle, 

Scribner, or International 1⁄4-inch log rules or calculate solid wood volume inside or outside of bark. This document describes the methods 

used in volume calculation in PINEVOL and is a program user’s guide.

Keywords: Loblolly pine, longleaf pine, shortleaf pine, slash pine, stem 

profile equations, taper functions.
The Forest Service, United States Department of 

Agriculture (USDA), is dedicated to the principle 

of multiple use management of the Nation’s forest 

resources for sustained yields of wood, water, forage, wildlife, 

and recreation. Through forestry research, cooperation with 

the States and private forest owners, and management of 

the National Forests and National Grasslands, it strives—as 

directed by Congress—to provide increasingly greater service 

to a growing Nation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits 

discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis 

of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where 

applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, 

religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political 

beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s 

income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not 

all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with 

disabilities who require alternative means for communication 

of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) 

should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 

(voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, 

Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, 

Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) 

or (202) 720-6382 ( TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity 

provider and employer.