In the following week, we started to established the experimental site.

Our goal was to build three blocks, and each block has three plots (two levels of thinning and one control). The plot size was designed as 30 m x 30 m.  However, the stand of even aged 16 years old lodgepole pine is relatively small, surrounded by mature lodgepole pine trees and 5-6 years old saplings. The stand with a slope of around 15 °, leans towards the south. It is impossible to establish three blocks abreast at the same height. So we had to assign the three blocks as Figure 1.

Fig. 1 The location of the blocks (Dark red: Block 1; Red: Block 2; Green: Block 3).

Then, we used compass and measuring taps set up the boundary of the blocks. It was a very dense stand, so it is hard to go through. Also, the stand contains lots of gaps that we tried to avoid. With the help of Antonio ( a visiting professor from Spain) and Adam (my supervisor). We finally set up three blocks as Figure 2. However, we reduced the plot size to 20 m x 20 m.

             Fig. 2 A simplified graph of the three blocks