Pacific Northwest Forest Inventory and Analysis
620 SW Main, Suite 400
Portland, OR 97205
P. O. Box 3890
Portland, OR 97208-3890
(503) 808-2000 |
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What is FIA?
Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) is the Nation's forest census.
The Pacific Northwest Research Station (PNW) is one of five Research Stations
with an FIA
program. It is our job to determine the extent and condition of forest resources
and analyze how these resources change over time. The inventories are conducted
across all ownerships in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington,
and the US Pacific Territories regardless of management policies. PNW-FIA has
been
in operation under various program names (Forest Survey; Inventory and Economics;
Inventory, monitoring and Evaluation; and Pacific Resources Inventory,
and Evaluation) for some 70 years. The program is implemented in cooperation
with a variety of partners including state forestry agencies and private
landowners who grant access to their lands for data collection purposes.
The
Three Phases of FIA
FIA consists of a nationally consistent core program,
which can be enhanced at the regional, state, or local level by collecting
additional data to address
special interests. The national core consists of three phases:
Phase 1 uses remote sensing imagery or aerial photography
to classify land into forest or non-forest and to identify landscape patterns
such as fragmentation
and urbanization. Historically, this phase was accomplished exclusively with
aerial photographs. Methods are shifting to a system based on satellite
imagery.
Phase 2 consists of permanently established field plots
distributed across the landscape with approximately one plot every 6,000
acres. In the West, field
crews visit 10 percent of forested sample locations each year to collect a
variety of forest ecosystem data. Non-forest locations are also visited as
necessary to quantify rates of land use change. A typical plot usually takes
a 2-3 person field crew one full day to complete. Factors such as the steepness
of the ground, the size of trees, amount of understory vegetation, and the
length of the hike to the plot all factor into the time commitment. When a
field crew visits a plot, some of the information collected includes:
- Tree diameter, length, damage, amount of rotten or missing wood, and tree
quality
- Counts of tree regeneration
- General land use
- Stand characteristics such as forest type, stand age,
and disturbance
- Changes in land use and general stand characteristics
- Estimates of growth,
mortality, and removals (determined by revisiting plots every ten years)
- Vegetation diversity and structure
- Down woody debris
Phase 3 is designed to assess forest health by sampling
a subset of Phase 2 plots. Plots are visited only during the growing. Phase
3 measurements relate to forest ecosystem function, condition, and health.
They include:
- Ozone Injury -the presence and severity
of ozone injury on certain forest plants shows us where ozone exposures
are high enough to cause plant injury and increase susceptibility to other
stressing agents. For more information, visit the national FIA
ozone website.
- Lichen Communities-the presence or absence of certain lichen species is
an indication of air quality climate and forest structure, age, density,
and composition. For more information, visit the national
FIA lichen website.
- Soil attributes-measurements of soil erosion, compaction, and physical
or chemical properties allow us to evaluate soil fertility, carbon storage,
and physical status of the site.
- Crown Condition-measurements of crown density, transparency, and dieback
help us differentiate between trees with high vigor and those under stress.
- Vegetation Diversity and Structure-measurements of native and exotic plants
help us evaluate changes in plant community diversity, spread of invasive
species, fuel loading, carbon cycling, and effects of disturbance.
- Down Woody Material-measurements of fine and coarse woody material on
the forest floor allow us to assess fuel loading, forest productivity, wildlife
habitat, and carbon storage. For more information, visit the national
FIA down woody material website.
Organizational Overview
FIA is organizationally located within the Research
and Development Deputy Area of the USDA Forest Service. FIA has three levels
of internal management: an
executive level involving senior executives from the Forest Service and State
Forestry Agencies, who provide broad policy guidance; a management level
consisting of field program managers from the Forest Service and States responsible
for
implementing the program on a day-to-day basis; and a technical level consisting
of groups of technical specialists drawn from the Forest Service and States,
who develop, document, and review program procedures. Across the country,
program work is coordinated out of five regional field offices. Each region
maintains
their own internal set of regional customers and partners who collaborate
in program implementation.
Every 5 years the National Forest System and Forest Service Research combine
their data for the Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment of the Nation's
resources. The RPA data is retrievable at the regional, state and county levels
The People of PNW-FIA
PNW-FIA is based in Portland, OR with a satellite office
in Anchorage, AK. Scientists, foresters, ecologists computer professionals,
and technicians
from many backgrounds provide the expertise needed to implement the PNW-FIA
program.
Program Manager
Sue Willits
FIA Teams and team leaders in Portland (Oregon, Washington, California, Hawaii,
and US Pacific Islands)
Environmental Analysis and Research: Jeremy Fried
Inventory Reporting and Mapping*: Sally Campbell
Data Collection: Bob Rhoads
Information Management*: George Breazeale
FIA Teams and team leaders in Anchorage (Alaska)
Research and Analysis: Bill van Hees
Data Collection: Ray Koleser
*The Inventory Reporting and Mapping Team and the Information Management Team
serve Anchorage as well as Portland.
Data Flow and Uses
Phase 1 determines which plots are forested and which are
non-forest. Field crews visit the forested plots (Phases 2, 3) on the ground.
After the collected
field data are edited for correctness and consistency (by the two data collection
teams), they are compiled using both national and regional computer programs
that generate computed values of a number of desired measurements such as
biomass and volume (by the information management team). The compiled data
are then
added to the national FIA database (by the information management team).
The data can then be summarized, analyzed and published (by the inventory reporting
team and the 2 research teams).
Our data is available to any interested individual or organization. Although
we typically summarize the data at the state or multi-county level, other political
and biological entities such as national forests and ecoregions, whose boundaries
are rarely congruent with county or state boundaries, can also be accommodated.
For more information about accessing the data see our data page.
FIA data answers such questions as:
- How much forest is there?
- What do the forests looks like?
- Is forest area increasing or decreasing?
- Are we gaining or losing species?
- How quickly do trees grow? die? get harvested?
- How is the forest ecosystem
changing over time?
- How are soils changing?
- What about other vegetative attributes?
Such information has many important uses including:
- Helps policy makers at the federal and state level to formulate good forest
policy, and assess the sustainability of current and past policy.
- Enables
land managers to devise better management plans and to assess the effects
of current and past management practices on the land.
- Serves as a starting
point for scientific investigations in a variety of areas which involve
changes in forest ecosystems over time.
- Formulates business plans which will
be both economically and ecologically sustainable over time.
- Keeps the
public informed about the health and sustainability of the Nation's forests.
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