Join us in beautiful Victoria, Canada for the 2026 Western Mensurationists Annual Meeting.
The theme of event will be “Forest Mensuration and Biometrics Under Uncertain Climate“.
Thank you to the University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Working Party 4.01.03 for providing support for this event.
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Abstracts
The deadline for submitting abstracts has passed. Accepted applicants need to be registered by April 30 in order to be included in the event.
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Kim Iles Mathematical Challenge
In 2009 two SOMENS fellows, Lewis Jordan and Ray Souter, started the Mike Strub Challenge contest, to honor Mike Strub’s inquisitive mind, tenacity in pursuing forest related questions, and not the least, its kindness. Western Mensurationists decided to mirror this passion for numerical forestry with a challenge of its own. Therefore, starting with 2023, the Kim Iles Mathematical Challenge is launched in Canmore AB, Canada. The challenge bears the name of Kim Iles who can be considered the epitome of a forest mensurationist: integrated within the environment, considerate toward nature and humans, comprehensive in endeavor, inquisitorial in scientific pursue, wise in recommendations, and Shakespearian in expressing. Different from SOMENS, the Western Mens challenge has two parts one for theoretical and one practical.
View the Challenge here. Responses will be accepted until Friday, June 19. Submit here.
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Credits: This event will offer SAF CFE credits
The Western Mensurationists are an informal group of Forest Mensurationists, Biometricians and practitioners that meet annually to discuss issues relating to the measuring forest resources.
Registration is OPEN!
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Registration fees:
Early bird – $435 USD ends April 30
Regular – $550 USD begins May 1
Student – $200 USD (does not change)
Spouses/friends are welcome to join for Monday night dinner. The cost is $75 USD per guest.
Delta Hotels Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort
100 Harbour Rd, Victoria, BC V9A 0G1, Canada
Oceanfront and situated on the Songhees Boardwalk, the resort is conveniently connected to everything BC’s capital city has to offer: a quick stroll to Chinatown, parliament buildings, museums, or the harbor.
Room block details:
Book your group rate for Western Mensurationists Annual Conference 2026
Marriott Bonvoy Members enjoy complimentary Wi-Fi, mobile check-in, and more.
5pm – 7pm Evening Welcome Icebreaker and Registration at the Delta Hotels Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort (drinks and appetizers provided)
7:00am Breakfast and Registration
8:00am Welcome and Housekeeping Items, Tzeng Yih Lam, UBC
8:15am Keynote: On Topics Non-biometric: The People, Places and Events that Enriched My Life. V2.0, Dave Hyink, Deerfield Consulting
9:00am Things We Need to Dump from the Profession, Kim Iles, Kim Isles & Associates Ltd
9:25am Forest Inventory Ground Sample Programs of British Columbia, Anya Reid, British Columbia Ministry of Forests
9:35am Assessing Drivers of Post-fire Natural Regeneration on the Fraser Plateau, British Columbia, Natalie MacMillan, University of British Columbia
9:45am Post-fire Regeneration Density on the Fraser Plateau, Interior British Columbia, Rachel Yi Xuan Lim*, University of British Columbia
9:55am Break
10:30am Canada’s National Forest Inventory Projects Office and MAGPlot: Advancing FAIR, Pan-Canadian Forest Ground Plot Data for Research and Decision-making, Omnia Gamal El-Dien Ibrahim, Canadian Forest Service
10:50am Modeling of Tail Dependence in Height-Diameter Relationships with Elliptical, Archimedean, BB, and Survival Copulas, Bridget Guo*, University of British Columbia
11:10am Quantifying Impacts of Prediction Versus Sampling Errors on Uncertainty in Baseline Carbon Stock Forecasts, Yung-Han Hsu*, University of New Brunswick
11:30am Efficient Sampling to Establish Permanent Sample Plots, Ashley Zhang*, University of British Columbia
11:40am Extracting Tree Diameter and Taper from Spherical Panoramas with Map Projection Systems, Sabal Sharma*, University of British Columbia
11:50am Validating the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) Southern Variant in Growth and Yield Projections for Loblolly Pine, Sheng-I Yang
12:00pm Lunch
1:00pm Goodness-of-Fit: Is what We Really Need to Know Presented? Homage to Anscombe (1973), Narsky (2003) and Beyond, John Kershaw, University of New Brunswick
1:20pm Effects of Climate Variations on Relative Growth Rate Measured from Permanent Plots: Prospects and Problems, Ted Hensold
1:40pm HLS based Automated DBH Extraction in Complex Forest of Pacific Northwest (PNW), Avishek Hamal*, Oregon State University
2:00pm Model-Based Small Area Estimation of Stand Attributes Using FIA and Remote Sensing with Timber Industry Validation, Sukhyun Joo, Oregon State University
2:10pm Comparative Evaluation of Individual Tree Segmentation Methods Using Airborne LiDAR Data, Nasheeda Yasmin*, University of New Brunswick
2:20pm The Next Frontier of Wildfire Analysis; What we can Learn from Spatial Patterns of Wildfire Remnants in the Western Boreal Forests of Canada, Libby Taylor-Manning*, University of British Columbia
2:30pm Break
3:00pm Examining the Viability of Low Planting Densities in Loblolly Pine Plantations, Steve Morrone, Virginia Tech University
3:20pm Managing Trade-Offs Between Water Limitations, Fertilization, and Productivity in Intensively Managed Pine Systems, Bronson Bullock, University of Georgia
3:40pm Development of Crown Morphology Models for Pinus halepensis in Central Spain Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Unmanned Aerial Laser Scanning Data, Manuel Gomez Roux*, University of Valladolid
3:50pm Examining Strategies for Unobserved Groups using Mixed-Effects Models: A Case Study of the Caribbean Forests, Sheng-I Yang, University of Georgia
4:00pm Evaluating the Impacts of Tree, Stand, and Climatic Factors on Tree Mortality for Loblolly Pine in the Southeastern United States, Dinuka Madhushan Senevirathne*, University of Georgia
4:10pm Critical Height Sampling: The People, The Field, and…, Tzeng Yih Lam, University of British Columbia
4:30pm Day 1 Concludes
6:00-8:00pm Conference Reception (Dinner)
*Student Presentation
7:00am Breakfast
8:00am Toward A CONUS-Wide, Variant-Free FVS using FIA Data, Greg Johnson, Greg Johnson Biometrics LLC
8:30am Modeling Plantation Forests Across Planting Densities and Management Intensities, Dehai Zhao, University of Georgia
8:40am Using Modified Light Sums to Develop a Stand-Level Survival Model: a Case Study of Loblolly Pine in the Southern United States, Friday Nwabueze Ogana, Virginia Tech University
9:00am Climate and Competition Effects on Species Height-Diameter Relationships, Jessica Chaves Cardoso, Natural Resources Canada
9:20am Making Small Area Estimates Add Up: Post Hoc Bayesian Reconciliation of Model Based Estimates for Official Statistics at NFI Canada, Sharad K. Baral, Canadian Forest Service
9:40am Optimizing Stand Ages for Mid-rotation Thinning and Harvest for Intensively Managed and Multiple Objectives Loblolly Pine Plantations, Yuhui Weng, Stephen F. Austin State University
10:00am Break
10:30am Business Meeting, Awards, Group Photo,
11:30am Lunch
Meeting Adjourns