1. An Overview of the Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

2. The FIA program collects strategic (state or multi-county level) data on the: Status Trends Resource conditions including forest health Note: This is for ALL forest lands in a consistent fashion across the U.S.

3. Legislative Perspective McSweeney-McNary Act of 1928 Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1978 1988 Forest Ecosystem and Atmospheric Pollution Research Act The Farm Bill (Agricultural Research Extension and Education Reform Act) of 1998

4. Current FIA Mission Current, comprehensive inventories and analyses of all US Forests (i.e. all ownerships). Annual forest inventories in all States. National core program that includes additional data beyond the core which are used to address specific regional/local needs. Standardized plot layout and sampling grid. QA programs to verify data quality and verify accuracy of our estimates. Conduct inventories with State and Federal partners. Establish information needs and cooperatively implement inventories.

5. A New Plot Design…

6. Comparison Previous Plot Layout with Current Plot Layout Overlay Plot Layout 102 104 103 105 106 107 108 109 110 1 2 34 Subplots 1- 4 Distance between centers 120 feet Azimuth 1-2 =360 degrees Azimuth 1-3 =360 degrees Azimuth 1-4 =360 degrees Radius Subplot – 24.0 feet Microplot – 6.8 feet Subplot 101-105 Subplots 101-103 From66' tosubplot centercenterAzimuth 1011020 o 1021030 o 103104120 o 104105180 o 105106180 o 106107240 o 107108300 o 1081090 o 1091100 o

7. Terminology as a Result of Annual Inventories Cycle – a sequential number assigned to a set of plots, measured over a particular period of time from which a state estimate using all possible plots is obtained. Relevant for periodic and annual. Subcycle – a number incremented from 1 to n where n is the number of years it takes to complete a Cycle. Relevant for annual only. Panel – FIA plots are assigned to 1 of 5 Panels in order to spatially and temporally distribute plot measurements.

8. Phase 3 Subset of P2, with additional Variables: soil, ozone, etc Phase 2 Field data collection: tree species, height, diameter, land use, etc Phase 1 Forest area estimates ~ based on photo interpretation *Highest sampling intensity The Three Phases of the FIA Program

9. One out of every 16 Forest Inventory Plots is also a Forest Health Plot (Phase 3)  Ozone  Soils  Down Woody Material  Crown Condition and Health  Lichens  Understory Vegetation Structure and Diversity

10. Inventory Relationships Operational level State inventories Local Inventories for management FIA National Base Strategic level Resolution Spatial, semantic and temporal.

11. Invasive Species A regional measurement

12. Additional Components of FIA Timber Product Output Surveys National Woodland Owner Survey Tropical Island Survey Utilization Studies

13. Comparison of the Past and Present PreviousCurrent Timberland InventoryForestland Inventory Timber InformationForest and Forest Health Information Aerial photography w/field visits Remote Sensing w/field visits RegionalNational PeriodicAnnual

14. Internet links: National database available at:  http://www.ncrs2.fs.fed.us/4801/FIADB/ Information specific to Southern states:  http://srsfia2.fs.fed.us/ Electronic copy of publications available at:  http://www.srs.fs.fed.us/pubs/ National FIA web site:  http://fia.fs.fed.us/

15. Plans for Mississippi Planning to work cooperatively with MIFI for Phase 2 and Phase 3 data collection in MS. Current budget projections for FY06 should allow for MS implementation. The remaining question – Remeasure the old variable radius plot?

16. Current Grid for Mississippi  Phase 2  Phase 3

17. Plots under the old grid and the new annual scheme 146Difference between Surveys 727Dropped 5370Total 1994 Survey 5224*Total 581New 4643Re-Measure Annual Inventory *348 of these are Phase 3 Plots

18. Remeasuring old plots and installing new plots Advantages: Some estimates of growth, removal, and mortality Linkage with previous plot data although limited Disadvantages: Crews need to understand 2 plot designs Re-locating plot installed 12-16 years ago Maintain current PDR program and hardware for 5-7 more years Maintain current processing system for 5-8 more years Explaining growth, removals, and mortality results may be difficult

19. Only installing the new plots (no remeasurement) Disadvantages: Possibly no growth, removal, and mortality information for 8 more years Advantages: Quicker and simpler Crews only have to establish new plots plus don’t have to relocate old plots Can use National PDR and data processing programs

20. Discussions and/or Questions?