Forest Inventory & Analysis

About IW-FIA

The Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis Unit (IW-FIA), headquartered in Ogden, Utah, has the responsibility to improve the understanding and management of our Nation’s forests by measuring, assessing, and reporting on the extent, condition, and health of the forest land of the Interior West on an annual basis. Their purpose is to:

• Collect and disseminate information about the forests of the Interior West States relating to forest distribution, condition, health   and utilization.
• Develop innovative methods for sampling and integrating inventory data with remotely sensed information, thereby improving the   quality and efficiency of inventory analysis and reporting products.
• Maintain a database of up-to-date statistics in order to provide resource information to the Forest Service, its cooperators, other   public agencies, and the public at large.
• Develop methods and procedures to test and evaluate indicators for assessing rangeland status and health.

Some activities used to fulfill this purpose include:

• Conduct inventories on all forest lands in the Interior West States (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, UT, and WY).
• Provide technical coordination for monitoring and analyses at local, State, and regional levels. This includes measuring a variety of   ecological parameters including forest biomass; tree growth, removals, and mortality; wildlife habitat; soil conditions; and damage   due to disease and other factors.
• Address specific problems peculiar to each State of sub-region of interest.
• Identify additional renewable forest resource-related research areas, opportunities for improved management of resources, and   potential conflicts among resource uses.
• Conduct special data collection efforts and studies for rapid assessments, e.g., fires.
• Conduct pilot inventories on select non-forest lands.

The IW-FIA unit operates under technical guidance from the Office of the Deputy Chief for Research and Development, located in Washington, DC, and under administrative guidance from the Director of the Rocky Mountain Research Station located in Fort Collins, Colorado.

USDA Forest Service - RMRS - Forest Inventory & Analysis
Last Modified: March 30, 2006  Wednesday, 30 January 2008 at 12:41:00 EST