One of a forester's most common tasks is cruising timber. And although many foresters enjoy their time spent cruising timber, they recognize the need to minimize unproductive time.
Forest inventories are very time-consuming.
Time spent collecting data is the greatest single cost in forest inventories. We pay a significant amount simply for someone to walk through the woods. If calculations are made by hand, the labor cost skyrockets. Today's labor costs offer little room for unproductive time spent walking in the woods or entering numbers into a computer keyboard or calculator. This especially is true in companies with only one or a few foresters whose time is in high demand.