Main Logo of Southern Research Station, Stating: Southern Research Station - Asheville, NC, with a saying of 'Science you can use!'
[Images] Five photos of different landscape

Compass issue 12
Download issue 12 PDF

Compass is a quarterly publication of the USDA Forest Service's Southern Research Station (SRS). As part of the Nation's largest forestry research organization -- USDA Forest Service Research and Development -- SRS serves 13 Southern States and beyond. The Station's 130 scienists work in more than 20 units located across the region at Federal laboratories, universites, and experimental forests.



Small logo of the USDASmall logo of the Forest Service Shield


Issue 12

The Value of Taking Inventory

Since the 1930s, the Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program has been surveying public and private lands to track forest extent, health, vitality, and contributions to the national and global timber supply. The program is designed to provide data, analysis, and comprehensible information to foresters, wildlife biologists, universities, nongovernmental organizations, Federal and State agencies, forest industry, and private landowners.

SRS FIA collects data on public and private forest land in the 13 Southern States and the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Success depends on collaboration with State and private forestry agencies, the forest industry and consultants, and universities. Because wood-using industries play an important role in shaping the economic future of the Southern States, it is essential that the status and trends in forest resources be assessed and information shared in a timely manner.

For more information: srsfia2.fs.fed.us/





One type of wildland-urban interface is the isolated interface, where second homes are scattered across remote areas.
Saltwater surges and flooding caused additional damage to forest resources. (Photo courtesy of NOAA)