1. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census Criteria and Indicators state of the process Criterion 2 presented by W. Brad Smith Associate National Program Manager, FIA

2. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census Identifying Research Needs

3. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census on U.S. forests from local to global LocalSub-State regionStateRegional/ National GlobalInternational multi-process National sector C&INational multi-sector Main information flow Feedback loop FIA, the keystone of Criterion 2, has reported

4. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census Make no mistake …. Criterion 2 is about commodities, timber and nontimber However, looking holistically… Indicators 1-4 in Criterion 1 cover area of all forest by type and successional stage and indicators 7 and 9 cover species abundance and change in forests Indicator 26 in Criterion 5 covers biomass in forests by type [and I would suggest some parallelism with Criterion 1]

5. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census In the 2003 National Report on Sustainable Forests for Criterion 2: Indicators 2, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 31

6. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census What are we doing about Criterion 2 gaps? Annualized forest inventory is progressing Implementation in 1999Implementation in 2005 Am. Samoa Guam Palau Puerto Rico Virgin Is. NMI FSM RMI Islands

7. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census And, coming soon to a website near you: Annual estimates of area, growth, removals and mortality for all forest land, current and historic Annual estimates of volume and biomass on all forest land Annual updates on forest ownership study results Annual validation data for spatial tools based on remote sensing [15-20,000 plots per year]

8. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census Indicator 14 Nontimber forest products What are they, generally…. Food Medicinals Florals Oils and resins Cultural (arts and crafts) Game and hides

9. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census FIA southern NTFP pilot study Identify Markets Products Distribution Then Test protocols and measures Estimate value The study is ongoing

10. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census Some reported data are still difficult to interpret or lack trends Indicator 2 Forest age class data, 2002

11. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census We need to explore surrogates for age-class like average stand diameter? Source: Forest Resources of the United States, 2002 The optimal mix of forests of different average size trees is difficult to define and depends greatly on management objectives. Clearly, the effects of human activity and natural events paint different pictures in different regions. Indicators 2 & 4

12. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census If we had known then…. FIA would have cataloged area by forest by type and average diameter class (stand-size class) jointly FIA did it separately for 50 years and it is difficult to recover from pre-digital data. We have data from about 1980 on.

13. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census Fusing field and remote sensing data will offer new opportunities for displaying patterns like ownership

14. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census Or harvesting

15. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census Sometimes we pieced seemingly disparate data together to derive meaningful trend information: Regional forest trends in the 48 States, 1760-2000 1940- pres. FIA Field Inventory Reports 1900 – 1930 Forest Service report estimates prior to FIA field inventories. 1850 – 1890 Based on Bureau of the Census land clearing statistics. 1760 – 1840 Based on estimates of forest clearing proportional to population growth. Basis for chart data: Million acres Indicators 2 & 4

16. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census But many questions remain

17. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census Like number of hardwood trees in the U.S. by major species, 1963-2002 Indicator 9 (Only shows number of trees 5-inches dbh and larger) Even when we have trends, what do they mean?

18. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census Top 10 species in U.S. forests Indicator 9 What’s best: Is tree biodiversity best measured by volume or number of trees?

19. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census Is an indicator best measured in: Growth Mortality Removals 0 5 10 15 20 25 195319631977198719972002 Billion cubic feet Indicator 13 Growth Mortality Removals 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 195319631977198719972002 Percent of total live volume < absolute terms -or - relative terms >

20. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census Does ownership matter? As public policy has shifted, removals have moved dramatically from public land in the West to private land in the East in the last 15 years. Indicator 13

21. F orest I nventory and A nalysis The Nation’s Forest Census ? And, the answer for your favorite indicator is…