I did my masters in chaparral, and I worked with one assistant. We made 2 meter poles, marked in centimeters using wood poles. When we were measuring shrubs >2 m tall, we would simply stack the poles (4 m tall). After a while, we learned to simply mark a point on the shrub that was 2 meters tall, then slide the measuring stick up until the other person (standing outside) could determine that the tip was at the top of the shrub. That made it possible to measure accurately to 4 m (or inaccurately to 5 m) with a single, 2 m pole and an outside spotter.
To make the measuring poles (we made four for hard use), we used 1.25" wood full-round poles (like they use for hanging clothes in closets), a meter stick for scale, sharpies and 4x6" index cards taped into tubes to provide guides for inking the lines around the poles cleanly. And sand paper to smooth the sticks. Back in 1994, the cost per pole was around $6. It's probably about $10 now. If you go to a lumber yard in the US and you want them to cut the poles for you, make sure to take a meter tape measure with you to measure off the length, because they only do imperial units, typically. If you're working on steep slopes, one thing to consider is that you'll need an a priori definition of what constitutes "height." The shrub will often grow out perpendicular to the slope, and so the "height" can vary substantially depending on how you measure it. I used the definition of "vertically over the root collar" but certainly others are possible. Good luck! Frank Landis
