Subject: DBS Forest Type Input (SN), R5 & R6 Merch. Top Specs. (CA, NC, SO)
Name: R. Havis
Date: August 27, 2008
Variants affected: SN, CA, NC, and SO

Description:

1) Forest type is used in the Southern variant to set initial maximum
   stand density index. If an invalid Forest type was read from a data
   base table, the default forest type was not being set causing
   an error in the Southern variant. This has been corrected.

2) The Merch. Spec. for cubic and board foot top diameters may be set by
   the user with the VOLUME and the BFVOLUME keywords. FVS sets default
   Merch. Specs. when not set by keyword. The default Merch. Specs. for
   cubic and board foot volume calculations was set to 4.5 inches in the
   CA variant. Hardwood species board foot volumes were zero in the CA
   variant because Region 5 board foot volume equations for hardwood
   species are not valid for Merch. top diameters less than 5.0 inches.
   Therefore, the default Merch. top diameters were set to 6.0 inches in
   the CA variant makeing Merch top Specs. consistent with the value used
   in the other R5 variants, SO and NC. Also, the CA, NC, and SO variants
   cover forests that are in both Region 5 and Region 6. Logic was applied
   to these variants to differentiate and apply the Merch. top diameter that
   is consistent with the national forest specified in the simulation.
   The default Merch. top for forests in Region 6 is 4.5 inches and in
   Region 5 is 6.0 inches.

Impact on users: Users should obtain new executables.

Files:
./base/src/revise.f
./ca/src/grinit.f - Initialized TOPD, BFTOPD= 0.0 
./dbs/src/dbsstandin.f - Added check for valid Forest Type.
./ni/src/vols.f - Added logic to set TOPD, BFTOPD = 6.0 for R5 forests and
                  TOPD, BFTOPD = 4.5 for R6 forests in the CA, NC and SO variants.
                  This makes Mech. tops consistent in regions and solves problem of
                  hardwoods calculating zero volumes in CA variant. Top Dias. < 5.0 
                  in are beyond Scribner regression bounds.
./so/src/grinit.f - Initialized TOPD, BFTOPD= 0.0 
./so33/src/grinit.f - Initialized TOPD, BFTOPD= 0.0 
