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?

Regional Systems

Different approaches

Different funding priorities

Different staffing

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.