Directives for Inventory, Monitoring, and Assessment

The Resource Information Group (RIG) is responsible for establishing agency policy regarding inventory, monitoring, and assessment. That policy has been widely scattered across the Forest Service's directive system. An effort is currently underway to consolidate that direction into a single location - proposed as chapter 1940 of the Forest Service Manual - for use by line officers and primary staff. Eventually, Forest Service Handbook sections will house more specific direction for subject matter experts and others. The following material includes the current draft policy, background material and presentations, and instructions for providing review comments.

Overview

Land management is an adaptive process of checking where you are against where you want to go and making adjustments. Assessing social, economic, and ecological conditions and trends allows us to gauge progress towards land management goals for the Forest Service and for each Forest Service unit. Inventory, monitoring, and assessment are critical activities for adaptive land management because results from those activities allow us to know how we are doing.

Forest Service leadership is committed to using state-of-the-art methods and a systems approach to provide highly credible resource information and data to meet a wide range of customer business needs in collaboration with our land management partners. The proposed directive will establish the management framework for resource inventories, monitoring, and assessments, and codify the broad authorities, management objectives, policies, responsibilities, and standards.

Manual Direction

• Forest Service Manual Chapter 1940 (PDF, 89 KB) - January 5, 2009; Forest Service Manual Directive Issuances (FSM) 1900 - Chapter 1940 (.doc, 127 KB)
• Forest Service Office of the Deputy Chiefs for NFS, S&PF, R&D and OPS Briefing Paper - Manual Direction for Resource Inventory, Monitoring and Assessment (I,M&A) Activities (PDF, 25 KB) - Revised January 30, 2009
• Standard Data Management (SDM) Project: Fact Sheet (PDF, 71 KB) - February 5, 2009

Purposes

The proposed direction meets four agency needs:

1. An organizing framework for resource information management;
2. A basis for accountable program management and planning for inventory, monitoring, and assessment work;
3. A basis for improving the consistency and efficiency of information management processes;
4. Clear expectations regarding coordination and collaboration across deputy areas and with partners to accomplish the work of inventory, monitoring, and assessment.

Ecosystem inventory and monitoring is required by the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (RPA) as amended by the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA).

Related Projects

• National Forest Systems Monitoring and Evaluation Framework - The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework helps Forest Service planners meet monitoring requirements. Properly applied, this tool can launch discussions about progress and emerging issues, inform the need for change, and increase the capacity of collaborative efforts with our neighbors and partners.
• Forest Service Framework for Inventory and Monitoring (January 2000) (PDF, 241 KB)
• USDA Forest Service Integrated Inventory and Monitoring: Archives
• Process Predicament (PDF) - Identifies three problems needing agency attention--excessive analysis, ineffective public involvement, and management inefficiencies.
• Foundations for the Future: Findings from a Survey of Inventories Managed by Regional Offices of the Forest Service (November 1999) (PDF, 267 KB)
• Critique of the First Round of Forest Service planning under NFMA (1990)