Founded

November 26, 2006

We are dedicated to the greater good of forestry here at Free State Drivers.
Have FSD help you with all of your forestry, computer and web needs.
We will get through any project we start with you.

FSD News:

Thneed Digest – Week 2017 – 09
Posted: 2017/03/01 Category: Thneed Digest
Just a quick update so that people know that a last minute FBRI workshop is happening. Sounded like the release of the new software… But we have been expecting the new release next week for the past several years. If it is being released not a moment too soon based on the bugs that people have been telling us about the current version. While we have only recently started this take a look at the FPS Wiki. As bugs and other information surfaces we will try to keep you up to date. This Wiki/FAQ is not a priority for FSD so if you want to join and help out use the contact form at the end of this post to request an account.

Click here to read more…
Upcoming Workshop Cancled
Posted: 2017/01/27 Category: Announcements
The planned workshop scheduled for February 8, Getting the Most Out of Your Inventory Data with FPS: Building a Wall-to-Wall Inventory, has been canceled. No real word on why from WFCA when asked. This is the second time FSD has attempted to run this workshop in cooperation with WFCA and the second time it has been canceled by powers not in the control of FSD and no real information on why. We know that many of you have been actively asking for this workshop and FSD will continue to try and run this but will have to find other partners to offer this with. FSD will still as always provide on-site training for any organization.

The hope was that this workshop would iron the last of the bugs out of the I’ve Got FPS Now What A dirt foresters guide to using, understanding, localizing and calibrating the Forest Projection and Planning System book. Instead we will continue by finalizing the cover graphics with the graphics designer and push to have this published as soon as possible. Several people have offered to be beta testers and likely FSD will take them up on this. More on the release of this manual as we get closer.

We are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused.
Thneed Digest – Week 2017 – 04
Posted: Category: Thneed Digest
Everyone got the new FPS updates right… Ya FSD didn’t either so you’re not alone. Looks like it will still be a few years off or maybe months. No one knows. After all we still get to watch the same power point presentations dated 2014 about all the results of the work we have not seen.

Having spoken with several contributors it was brought to my attention that none of us recall from the annual meeting any hint of training.

Finally the latest is the announcement for a biometrician position and grad student scholarship.

Click here to read more…
Thneed Digest – Week 2016 – 47
Posted: 2016/11/29 Category: Thneed Digest
Were you at the FBRI annual meeting? FSD was and here is what we learned.

Click here to read more…
A word to the wise about ransomware
Posted: 2016/11/20 Category: Tips and Tricks
So as all good stories go “No kidding there I was….”

The FSD Penguins had been scrambling all morning to try and get the internet up and running only to find out that Missoula had a near city wide internet outage. Then the call that any support person dreads. “What do you know about Bitcoins?”

Here are some steps that worked out well in this case your mileage might vary.

Click here to read more…
Thneed Digest – Week 2016 – 43
Posted: 2016/10/24 Category: Thneed Digest
An update on what FSD knows…

Well not much is new. I know that this may come as a shock to some but no updates were released at the previous workshop as it had been hinted. The latest is that “Sometime early next year” a new library will be distributed. This has been the response for the past several years. One more reason that Endowment Contributors shouldn’t change to Annual Contributors.

Speaking of the last workshop the Penguins from the office here attended the event. As you can see from the lack of post here it was not terribly remarkable. The agenda would be a good place to start talking about all that we learned but the office Penguins here don’t want to have to rewrite the agenda since the distributed one was barely addressed in its distributed form.

The FBRI Annual Meeting is on the horizon. YOU SHOULD ATTEND!! While another mock Board Meeting will happen this is your best opportunity to interact with other Contributing Organizations and the Board of Directors. This is the only time that anyone can publicly ask the “Hard questions”. FSD will be there will you or your organization? Shoot me a note at the bottom of this post if you think you will be there.
Click here to read more…
Thneed Digest – Week 2016 – 35
Posted: 2016/08/30 Category: Thneed Digest
An update on what FSD knows…

Based on the latest FBRI email it looks as if the much awaited library updates are on the way. The only word on release is “mid-September”. No year was listed. However, if this is true that means that the analysis has passed the Best Biometrics Practices Review Committee. This is a required step for all library releases! While FSD did not hear a call for people to join the committee to review the analysis we are sure that it must have happened as the Board of Directors and the President have stated publicly that all libraries WILL be reviewed this way and that it doesn’t matter who did the analysis. Also no word on the numerous reported FPS bugs. Will they be patched at this time no one knows. Some scheme to “protect” the library was said to be implemented in the software so it seems that priority should have been given to fixing the bugs over spending excessive amounts of time “protecting” the libraries.

Click here to read more…
Thneed Digest – Week 2016 – 28
Posted: 2016/07/11 Category: Thneed Digest
An update on what FSD knows…

This is kind of important. Recently FBRI mailed out letters to all supporting organizations (because remember there are no members that has a different legal meaning). The focus of this letter was to promote Endowment Contributing Organizations to terminate in favor of yearly payments. Full disclosure Free State Drivers is an Endowment Contributing Organization and FSD will NOT be terminating the contract in favor of receiving the promised benefits when FSD paid its original fees. Why is FSD making this decision?
1. We entered into a contract and expect it to be fulfilled.
2. The yearly fee keeps going up but the benefit keeps going down
  - No new library contrary to presentations dated 2012 and 2014 that say it is done. Plus this new library is password protected or some nonsense. How many hours did it take to implement this?
  - No new software with meaningful fixes in years.
  - No new documentation that hasn’t been put out in some other form in the past several years.
  - Likely no TRS (calibration tools) to be provided
3. Most Endowment Organizations do NOT use the majority of the resources
4. As a consultant FPS is not my only choice for my clients. For the ones that we do use FPS for they are already annual contributors or are urged to become annual contributors.
5. A “carryover” of nearly 1/4 million USD for a 501c3 organization.
6. Finally what about building the endowment? Making the resources free as promoted when organizations joined. No one has seen the efforts taken in the past to reach the goal.
PLEASE if you are an Endowment Contributing Organization think long and hard before making this choice. Hold FBRI accountable for the agreement that they made with us all. I strongly urge people not to terminate the contracts. Perhaps a voluntary additional contribution is reasonable but don’t lose the benefits that many of you all signed up for and can never be resumed.

What are your thoughts? Read the rest and send us an email on your thoughts.

Click here to read more…
Happy New Years – Well for FPS
Posted: 2016/07/01 Category: Announcements
Remember that July 1 is the first day of the new year for The Forest Projection and Planning System (FPS). This means anything measured this year before today is assigned a year of last year for its measurement. Today ALL growth is considered to have happened and it is year end of the current calendar year.
Thneed Digest – Week 2016 – 26
Posted: 2016/06/28 Category: Thneed Digest
An update on what FSD knows and where we have been…

Click here to read more…