As a young forester trundling through the woods nearly 30 years ago, there are three memories that vividly stand out: 1) only a brisk cadence allows one to keep pace with the forest supervisor, 2) property lines aren't always accurate, and 3) forest management begins with defining the "AGS and UGS."Forests, and trees in particular, are often classified, grouped, evaluated, and judged based on many characteristics. These characteristics, in the simplest sense, can be either acceptable or unacceptable.Professional foresters are complete with their own vocabulary, and quickly refer to those trees with favorable qualities as AGS, short for "Acceptable Growing Stock." Trees that don't meet forest ownership objectives are termed UGS, or "Unacceptable Growing Stock." So AGS are good; UGS are not so good (or so it may seem).
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