One Size Does Not Fit AllBUT …
Inventory Needs, Purposes and Applications of the National Forests
FIA User Group MeetingMarch 7, 2012Baltimore, MD
Huffington Post
Carbon Canopy: A Model for Solving Problems by Protecting Rather Than Destroying Our Natural ResourcesBy Robert J. Cabin, Professor of ecology and environmental science, Brevard College
Posted: 03/ 1/2012 6:25 pmhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-j-cabin/carbon-canopy_b_1284470.html
Forest Cover Loss
“… At present, however, Carbon Canopy is focusing their efforts on the carbon services provided by forests in the Southern U.S. This is because although this region is home to the most biologically diverse forests in North America, it is also home to the world's most extensive industrial logging operations. In fact, although the Southern U.S. contains only 2 percent of the earth's forests, it supplies 20 percent of the world's wood and paper products and is the main reason why the U.S. has the highest percentage of forest cover loss on the planet.”
Forest Service Issues• Expanding Expectations– Water and Wood– Multiple Uses– Ecosystem Restoration? Climate and Carbon
• Limited and Shrinking Budgets• Anticipating Major Workforce Changes– “Retirement Tsunami”– Widely distributed reductions
Expectations - Inventory and Monitoring
• Forest Conditions and Trends to Identify Management Needs– Long Range and Local Immediate
• Assessing and Monitoring Sustainability– Forests, Productivity, Habitats, Ecosystems,
Species, Communities, Uses, Values• Identifying Risks and Impacts of Forest Threats• Responsive to the Issues-of-the-Day
Many Forest Service I&M ProgramsBecause One Size Does Not Fit All Needs
• Hand full of National Programs• Huge number of Individual National Forest
Programs– Most consistency has developed through
corporate databases• Limited number of Regional Programs
SHOULD WE TRY FOR MORE CONSISTENCY IN I&M PROGRAMS?
Region 5 - California
Conducted by the R5 Remote Sensing Lab• Mid-scale existing
vegetation GIS maps • Land use, land cover
and vegetation structure change
• Augmented FIA with plots on all vegetation types
Region 6 – Washington and Oregon
• Numerous interagency and local level approaches
• LiDAR consortia serve many I&M needs• Northwest Forest Plan Monitoring, Late-
Successional & Old Growth Mapping and Reporting
• Current Vegetation Survey (CVS) transitioned to FIA + intensification between 2001 - 2011
Region 1 – Montana and IdahoMultilevel Vegetation Classification, Mapping, and Inventory (R1-CMI)1. FIA – broad level2. Landscape level intensifications3. Stand Exams*All Condition Inventory*Post-Fire Remeasurement
Region 3 – Arizona and New Mexico
Mid-Scale Vegetation Mapping Program• Mapped three forests
per year over four year period – 2004-2007
• Involved active participation of selected knowledgeable forest staff members in the mapping effort
Regions 8 and 9 – Eastern US
Initiated Joint Vegetation Inventory and Monitoring Program in 2008• FIA + Intensifications for Broad level needs• Additional landscape level intensifications are
being done on a very limited basis• Working on classifications and mapping
standards• One Analyst is dedicated to support the 22
eastern national forests
Challenges and Needs
• Non-forest and Non-tree data• Data management• Follow-through and Continuity for long term
monitoring• Learning together from varied experiences• Skills and staffing needs are beyond
capabilities of individual forests (and sometimes regions)
Opportunities• Changes are coming – we can determine how
these changes will affect us – good or bad.• Expanding Expectations are coming from
cultural shifts that affect resource management overall, not just public land management.
• Information resources are abundant and growing – we control how vital our information base is in the public view and among professionals of many disciplines.
Helena Independent Record
Common ground in forest project worth defendingBy Keith Olson and Tom France, Your Turn
Posted: Tuesday, March 6, 2012 12:00 am http://helenair.com/news/opinion/common-ground-in-forest-project-worth-defending/article_16ae89ec-675c-11e1-830b-0019bb2963f4.html
Behind Every Good Project …
The lawsuit over the Colt Summit Restoration and Fuels Reduction Project near Seeley Lake has an unfamiliar twist: Those conservation groups, timber interests and government foresters? Those one-time adversaries? They’re all are on the same side. They are united in defense of a project that will improve habitat for wildlife and fish, reduce fire danger, bolster a local economy and help create a healthier forest for future generations.