Title: Imputatoin and Model-Based Updating Technique for Annual Forest Inventories

Author: McRoberts, Ronald E.

Year: 2001

Publication: Forest Science. Vol. 47 no. 3.:p. 322-330. (2001)

Abstract: The USDA Forest Service is developing an annual inventory system to establish the capability of producing annual estimates of timber volume and related variables. The inventory system features measurement of an annual sample of field plots with options for updating data for plots measured in previous years. One imputation and two model-based updating techniques are described and evaluated with respect to the bias and precision of their annual estimates of basal area per unit area. The evaluations indicate that simple plot-level imputation and model-based updating techniques produce adequately unbiased and precise estimates of annual mean basal area per unit area for large areas.